Fall Colors

[Tom Redd]

There was one tree in red fall foliage providing a reflection in the water, so I positioned so as to gain this BG.

Nikon D3s
300mm/f2.8
1/1600 sec
f/4
ISO 500
-1ev

Cropped, adj. levels, sharpened.

[Ken Watkins]

Tom,

Great BG here, but the bird itself looks very soft, if it is not an extremely large crop I would suggest some selective sharpening.

[Tom Redd]

Ken this was a significant crop, I have tried sharpening more here, not sure it helped, but I agree with your assessment.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful colours and texture to the water...good job seeing the opportunity and placing yourself accordingly...and waiting for the perfect HA! Only thing I might improve is the bottom cropping...I not fond of the perch reflection looking clipped. Already a big crop, but you could slice a tiny bit off the bottom (to just above the "R" of your name) to make a better cut down there.

[Tom Redd]

Daniel, good point, here is another similar image from the series, I used a TC on this image and so it is a smaller crop and it illustrates what you have suggested.

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Dan. Do you have one with the complete REFL of the rock??? Some bird photographer once wrote, "If an object is worth including in the frame it is best to include the whole thing with at least a small border." To do otherwise is a cardinal (or in this case, a cormorant) sin. Otherwise spectacular colors and REFL.

[Arthur Morris]

Question: In Pane 1, was the REFL of the bird's tail removed??? It does not look like it but I can't figure out why we do not see it....

[denise ippolito]

Ditto Dan. Do you have one with the complete REFL of the rock??? Some bird photographer once wrote, "If an object is worth including in the frame it is best to include the whole thing with at least a small border." To do otherwise is a cardinal (or in this case, a cormorant) sin. Otherwise spectacular colors and REFL.

Artie, Was he a famous bird photographer?


Tom, Beautiful colored water and I like the pose.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, Was he a famous bird photographer?

Very. In fact, he was actually Mr. Famous Bird Photographer...

[Tom Redd]

Thank you Denise and Artie. I did not clone out the tail, I just cropped it at the very edge of the reflection so as to not have a tip showing. Here is a version of pane #1 that includes the rock and bird's reflection. The reflection of the bird was not good enough to include, I thought. The image in pane #1 was shot with the 300/2.8 and no TC. The image in pane #5 was shot moments later with the same lens but with a 2x TC.

I will post in another pane, the image in #1 with the full rock REFL but I will have to clone out the tail.

[Tom Redd]

Artie, here is the image in the OP (pane #1) with the full rock REFL and the tail cloned out in the REFL as requested.

[dankearl]

I like pane 10 with the reflection the best, but all are superb. Fantastic colors, water texture and sharp as can be.

[Ken Watkins]

Tom,

I am torn between 10 and 11, but I think 10, as it has so much more of the remarkable BG.

[Tom Redd]

Thank you Dan and Ken for the comments.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Tom, this is a tricky one to crop. I am not sure about cloning out the tail reflection...does look odd to me that way :-) Leaving it in might cause distraction. Considering that, a "cut rock" rather than "clipped rock"...like your TC comp. might be my personal preference.

great BG...not only the color but the texture as as well. well seen and good job positioning yourself.

[Tom Redd]

Kaustubh, thank you for the feedback. I agree with you, I don't like the full REFL of the bird and so the tighter crop with the TC is preferable to me. I didn't post that image at first because I didn't like the eye as much. Again, thank you for the comment.