Reflections on a workshop on how to pose with the correct head angle

[Steve Uffman]

Using lessons learned, I was having a workshop in the field where I attempted to teach subjects to pose in different positions while maintaining a correct HA. Reflecting on that late afternoon, while imperfect, the black bellied whistling ducks gave an earnest effort.

Lacassine Refuge, Louisiana

Canon 7D, 1/400sec f/9.0 ISO 320 700mm (500mm f/4L IS USM with 1.4X III)

LR3, CS5, Nik

Feedback most welcome

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Interesting shot, the HA on the first one is fine, the second is angled away from the lens and third being head on view - not bad, always challenging. The frame is fairly balanced IMO and I like the diversity/originality shown here. Very difficult to get uniform focal plane here, was point of focus on left duck. Interesting trade off, on one hand the narrow aperture gives better DoF but also limits shutter speed needed for sharpness. Trying to get three HA perfect is persistence and/or luck, nice effort. Image needs some cleanup and sharpening. In this case, I probably would have included more habitat and gone wider. Thanks for posting.

[John Chardine]

Hi Steve- Nicely done. It is super-tough and often a matter of luck to get > 1 bird to all have a good head angle. You have eye-contact on all three of these, which is a good thing. My compliments to you on being able to control these wild beasts!

I like the image but a few things jump out. On my calibrated monitor the saturation seems pumped up a bit too high. Re. composition, the reflections are pretty strong and warrant being included, however, I would give more room above the birds so that they do not seem so much like they are in a low-ceiling room.

[Steve Uffman]

Hi Steve- Nicely done. It is super-tough and often a matter of luck to get > 1 bird to all have a good head angle. You have eye-contact on all three of these, which is a good thing. My compliments to you on being able to control these wild beasts!

I like the image but a few things jump out. On my calibrated monitor the saturation seems pumped up a bit too high. Re. composition, the reflections are pretty strong and warrant being included, however, I would give more room above the birds so that they do not seem so much like they are in a low-ceiling room.

Thanks John...I did watch the birds for awhile and was amused at their three different poses....This was the closest they ever got to good HA so I laughed and pressed the shutter....

my monitor is NOT calibrated at this time....but should be soon...Ironically, someone asked me a week ago if my monitor had been and they suggested that I do it...so I ordered Color Eyes/Spider bundle that should be here any day now. I did not pump the saturation but going thru a workflow of LR3, CS5 and Nik using a smart object perhaps could have added to the intensity....although, the sun angle was pretty low and intense so things naturally looked less washed out.....

I did clean up some of the marsh muck in front and behind....At first I had more room at the top, then succumbed to all I read about distracting elements....I will repost shortly with more 'head room'

Always appreciate the feedback.....
Steve

[Kerry Perkins]

Steve, one out of three participants who actually pay attention is probably a good number... What I first thought about this image was "you have three good images here". Only one has a good HA though. The saturation looks unnatural and definitely should be dialed back. The white patches on the left-most duck are toasty.

[Steve Uffman]

Thanks Kerry and John... .found the saturation issue...it was an oops...I had run a couple of Nik Foliage filters on virtual copies of the image when I was experimenting...I see I deleted wrong run (not sure what you call it in a smart object but I don't think its a layer)...this one I was moving the sliders to see the effect and if the filter added anything.. I also practices a lot of content aware fill and other stuff on these images .

The white patches are hot no doubt.....I will play with those selectively...thoughts on best way on this image? Recovery, burn or something else?...mainly best practices since this very much is an experimental 'eager to learn' image And I had saved several copies so I could see them on the web..and actually to see the impact under different browsers.....
I guess I could also practice some other techniques on this image....I counted about 10 shots I took of these 3....seems every time I swatted a mosquito their heads would swivel....looks like I probably could get a correct head angle on all 3 if i composited HA....


I will repost with proper saturation and more environment.....

always appreciate the input

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Steve,

I have the Spider tool and use it monthly. Does a good job epically with the bright tones. I fully understand how you could have smiled when you took this shot. I love ducks, the talk, the walk, everything about them. They always bring a smile to my face. I also agree the NIK filters could have skewed the colors. Like to see a repost with more room, thanks.

[Kerry Perkins]

Steve, the red channel is clipped in the white patches, nothing you can do to reclaim them. The only "fix" is to get the exposure right in the camera, and in this case I think 1/3 stop would have saved the whites. By the way, you can open a jpeg file with any browser before you post it to the web. Just select "open file" from the file menu and you can open any image on your computer and see what it will look like in the browser.