Canon 5D Mark II
700mm
Gitzo 3530LS/full Wimberley head.
1/1600 sec
f/7.1
ISO 640
A few weeks ago I was visiting family on Lake Ontario a bit east of Buffalo, and spotted some swallows winging about the water edge. I set my tripod up and felt lucky to get one perched for a couple minutes. These guys don't sit still for very long! The sun was almost down to the horizon, and the light was soft and a little pinkish. I like the pose of the bird. Wish the perch was a bit more slender. Is the comp ok? It is about a 50% crop and though I am usually a stickler for leaving space for a bird to look into, given their gaze, here I felt this worked better as there was nothing but blue to the bird's right. And I didn't like it as a vertical. By the way, that blue BG is the lake, not sky.
Some recovery in LR, and in CS4, NR on BG, sharpening, some Curves adjustment, slight darkening of belly feathers.
Thanks so much in advance for any comments and critiques. I hope you like it.
Hi Melissa,
The techs on the shot are great. It is so nice to see a swallow on a perch. I love the BG and I am OK with the unconventional comp. It is the perch that is the Achilles heel of this shot (but you have already identified this issue anyway!) A nice image,
Gail
Usually I like perch extending across the image but I think this one overpowers the bird in this setting, Congrats on getting the Roughwing Swallow since in my experience these have been tough. I think a vertical crop deemphasizing the perch might look nice,but you said you didn't like that already.
Melissa, I like where you are going with this image...I just took it a slight step farther on the crop by eliminating the small gap between the perch and bottom edge (seems to anchor the image better this way), and pushed the swallow even closer to the left edge. Hope you like!
The techs are bang on, just the perch (as you mention) could be better. A very pleasing shade of blue you have from the water...
Thanks so much, Daniel. I certainly do think that crop you did helps anchor the image better.
Charles, I understand what you mean about the perch being overpowering. I am uploading a vertical crop, which maybe isn't too bad, I'd be interested to hear if you (and others) think it's an improvement.
Me thinks Dan over-cropped a bit. I'd start with the bottom of the perch right in the corner and go from there. I like the concept. Looks a tiny bit too contrasty/over-sharpened.
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Melissa,
Notice the difference in way people see things and this is a great learning tool . Ultimately its your photo and the way you like it counts. However suggestions make you see how improvements can be made and all of a sudden you realize yes these are ways to improve.
By the way I like the vertical, but just realize I am a sucker for verticals whenever possible.
Thanks Artie for your suggestions. I was thinking perhaps I might have been a bit heavyhanded on the sharpening, but wasn't sure.
Charles, thanks for your thoughts. I think personally I am leaning towards the vertical at this point...