-
-
Joel - a nice job here handling the contrast - it looks like it was tough shooting conditions. I particularly like the visible pigeon-toed feet. There doesn't seem to be much highlight detail in the plumage and the back of the neck looks strange - it almost looks "smudged". Was noise reduction applied to the bird? I might consider cleaning up the small spot / highlight under the tip of the bill.
-
Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
-
Hi,
I agree - that must have been very hard to expose correctly, so you did a great job on that. I agree that the detail in the area of the shoulder is lacking, and makes that part of the bird look odd and unnatural. I don't mind the hunched appearance. All the other details are very sharp and clear.
Richard
-
Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
-
Joel,
Was there any noise reduction on the bird?
-Sid
-
Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
-
I ran Topaz Denoise on the entire image .... guess I went a little too far on the settings....I will get the chance to try again maybe later tonight
-
Joel - you might consider looking at is applying your noise reduction selectively. One of the first things I do when I open a new image is Photoshop is set-up masks (which I will save as their own alpha channels) for both the in-focus foreground elements (i.e. the bird & perch) and the OOF background. I do this with a combination of the selection tools / magic wand followed by the Refine Edge tool. It can be time consuming, but once the masks are created it will allow you to run heavy noise reduction on the out of focus portion of the image and selective sharpening to the in-focus foreground elements (as well as selectively apply any number of other adjustments). I don't often apply noise reduction to the birds in a photo (maybe very selective noise reduction in shadow areas on occasion), because I find it takes away from the fine feather detail.
-
Very good composition with the egret framed on the log. (Personally) I might add a touch more brightness to the bird's plummage as he is a little gray vs. BG to my eye.
-
BPN Member
Hi Joel, good points and suggestions above and would add that a slight head turn would have been nice. The bird looks a tad over-sharpened to me - I might back it off just a little. Good capture!
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at
http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
-
superb composition....a little hot on the top of the bird
Joel Eade thanked for this post
Posting Permissions
