Mark IV, tripod, 700mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, +0.33 ev, 1/400. ~50% crop, sharpened, curves adjustment. I was as low as I could go crouched on the stream side bank that was about 2 feet above the water.
Water Ouzel
Mark IV, tripod, 700mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, +0.33 ev, 1/400. ~50% crop, sharpened, curves adjustment. I was as low as I could go crouched on the stream side bank that was about 2 feet above the water.
Andrew
Hey Andrew- I really like the loose crop here, which shows the environment of this peculiar songbird very well. The light is harsh but it is at least more or less behind you so the light is somewhat even. The splashes add some interest. I wish that grey splotch was not there LR.
Andrew, you have a very nice pose and HA here but the bird is getting a little lost in all that water. I cropped it in a bit to showcase him more. (Ideally, in most avian images, you want the bird to be 50-75% of the image.)
I also found some of the white water spray to be a bit distracting so I used the heal brush to get rid of some of it. I also toned down the bright top side of the bird and lightened the belly a bit. (I used Nik's Viveza to do this but a shadow/highlight adjustment in PS would also work.)
Finally, I darkened the dark tones of the eye while leaving the light tones alone so it had a little more "punch". These are all minor things - just thought I'd give you an alternate view and you can decide what you like and what you don't.
I really love the action of the water around the bird and the dark blue BG really sets off the bird's lighter tones. Nicely done!
Thanks John & Jules. I liked both of your suggestions: eliminate the grey blob in the LRC & change the crop so the ouzel is larger. I also lightened the breast a wee bit but I decided to leave the water spray as is. Here is what I came up with. WDYT?
Andrew
Andrew, I like your crop but the water drops are still driving me crazy...to each his own! If you like it then that's all that matters. :)
Andrew,
Like your respost. Only thing I kind of disliked in the original post was the white patch at the lower right part of the frame. Your repost cropped it out and I like the comp and space around the subject good feel for the habitat. IMO white dots created by water droplets are part of the image and I would keep them as it is.
your techs and exposure looks fine.
-Sid
Thanks Jules. I am sorry to be driving you crazy with this image. :)
Sid, thanks for your comment. As you know, I too like the water droplets. After all, water is the dipper's milieu.
Andrew
I like the repost and I still like the room the bird has. However, there are several crops that would work here and a tighter, more conventional one would also be effective.
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