A Toughie

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 2X III TC (hand held at 222mm) and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops off the sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 set manually.

Here on Midway, situations with albatrosses landing with their feet dangling and clean backgrounds are hard to find. When the group tooled by a tsunami-exposed hill of sand in the big golf cart, I knew that it was just a matter of waiting for the right wind and the right light…. So we did.

Don't be shy. All comments welcome.

[Arthur Morris]

The tiny bird was moved from the center of the frame.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

The feet dangling with the veins visible is neat, I like the placement of the OOF bird. It adds a bit of depth and interest to the image. Enough clouds to make the sky interesting.

Cheers

Randy

[Tony Whitehead]

I love the aerodynamics illustrated in this image - air brakes out, wing coverts ruffling in the turbulent flow as the wings border on a stall as the bird slows. The look of concentration on the face is great and the OOF bird adds depth.

[Arno Ellmer]

Beautiful wing position and I love the detail in the wings and veins in the webbed feet, Artie.

[Pieter de Waal]

Just love the landing pose here with the concentrated stare and outstretched webbed feet. Nice feather detail underwing and as mentioned the oof bird adds to the image.

[Troy Lim]

Love the clouds in the sky.
Would it help to add more room on the bottom right hand corner as the bird was staring in that direction?

[Levina de Ruijter]

Hi Arthur. Love the image and for all the reasons that are already covered by the other commenters - it's simply wonderful.

I was just wondering about the OOF bird. If the image were mine (dream on Levina!) I would have cloned it out, feeling it is a distraction. But you left it in and even took the trouble of moving it to a different location which tells me that leaving it in was a very deliberate decision. So now I'm rather confused: when is an OOF object in the background a distraction and when does it add something?

[Arthur Morris]

Troy, I rarely like my flying birds up in the frame even when they are landing :)

[Troy Lim]

Troy, I rarely like my flying birds up in the frame even when they are landing :)

I will try that on mine next time.

[Arthur Morris]

Levina, As Randy stated, "It adds a bit of depth and interest to the image." In the original the o-o-f bird was centered and that was BAD for the composition. Offset the juxtaposition is rather pleasing (to me at least). There are no hard and fast rules for creating juxtaposition type images. I do not really consider this to be in that class as the distant bird is just an accent rather than a second main element of the composition. Hope that that helps :)

[Arthur Morris]

I should have mentioned that that is my totally personal preference.

[Randy Stout]

I like to think of the out of focus bird in the background as a "recirculating element" (I just made the term up, but the concept works, at least for me.). You see the main subject, but then drift back to look at the OOF element, then your eye comes back to the dominant subject, and then back for another peek at the OOF bird. Keeps the eye moving around the frame, holds ones attention.

Randy

[Steven Kersting]

I know a lot of others like "soft light"...I generally find it somewhat "flat".

I did a little bit to bring out the clouds. Used Levels to set w/b and output levels (10/245)....
Removed a spec and couple dust spots below the bird....

Overall, I like it better this way, but it has made the bird in the BG larger (not sure why) and I think that aspect might be worse.

[Ofer Levy]

The main reason this image looks flat is that it was not saved as sRGB which is the correct colour space for web presentation. Here is a repost with another option for a composition and very slight adjustment in colour and levels. Also removed the oof bird which being so small almost look like a big speck of dust rather than a real addition to the image IMHO.
Would love to hear everyone's thoughts.
Cheers,
Ofer
http://www.oferlevyphotography.com

[Levina de Ruijter]

Levina, As Randy stated, "It adds a bit of depth and interest to the image." In the original the o-o-f bird was centered and that was BAD for the composition. Offset the juxtaposition is rather pleasing (to me at least). There are no hard and fast rules for creating juxtaposition type images. I do not really consider this to be in that class as the distant bird is just an accent rather than a second main element of the composition. Hope that that helps :)

I understand. Thanks for the explanation, Arthur.

I should have mentioned that that is my totally personal preference.

Thanks for saying that as now I don't feel bad about not liking it so much...

And can I say that I prefer the original to the reposts: I think the first is too contrasty and has lost just about all detail in the darks. The second is way better in that respect than the first repost, but I think the crop is wrong; the original crop -sort of a pano- with the bird low in the frame, is beautiful and really fits the landing bird. That Ofer removed the speck in the left upper corner, I do like!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, what I like most is the dangling feet. Techs pretty much perfect as always.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Steve and Ofer, Steve, what did you do to enhance the clouds??

Ofer, thanks for the sRGB reminder; I make my 1024 JPEGs from scratch and forget to change that. I need to make a BPN action for those. Your repost looks a bit too contrasty for me however :)

Thanks KD and all the rest :) We fly to HNL today getting in at about 2am and then fly red-eye to Dallas and then back in Orlando at 10:20 am on WED. BTW, there are two Aussies in the group!

[Steven Kersting]

Easiest way is quick selection/copy to new layer..Set w/p in levels and adjust mid point. Change layer mode to one of the "color" modes (i.e. multiply/burn) and adjust opacity....