Sharp-Shinned Head Shot

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D4
500mm
Gitzo/Wimberley

f/5.6
1/13 sec
ISO 1000

Taking a break from the Christmas chaos to indulge my favorite pastime: viewing and posting on BPN. Here is a sharp-shinned hawk I had the honor of getting close to, a couple weeks ago downtown. It spent a couple days taking out the population of house sparrows that hung out in the yew bushes next to city hall. I found it deep in the bushes (and on a pretty gray, dark day) and by lying down on the sidewalk and spreading out the legs of my tripod I was able to get a few shots of it through the shrubbery. Not ideal but I still liked the portrait, as I think it's the closest I'll ever get to a sharp-shinned! I liked the direct gaze and the blood/gore still on the beak. Wonder if all the reflected glare/light is a problem and what to do. And is the greenery around ok or is it too distracting for this to be a good capture? I did do a fair amount of darkening and desaturation of the foliage but may need to do more.
This is about a 30% crop.
Thanks so much for any and all comments/critiques.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What an opportunity you had Melissa! I'm sure you'll remember this encounter for a long time!!

Great head-on pose and stare, and I'm with you on the blood and gore on the bill ( I love it). I like the framing you got from the FG vegetation, no problem there. Looks a bit oversharpened, and this has also accentuated the noise in the BG. Yes, the glare on the eyes seem much, some eye doctoring would improve on this...I'm at work (yes, on my break!!) and won't be able to try my hand at it til later. It still isn't too bad as is though....

[Richard Unsworth]

Great composition and effect

Background pretty noisy but an easy fix for you, as Dan says probably oversharped.
The positon of the stare is mesmerising!

a great encounter well seen

[Melissa Groo]

Went back to the drawing board, reposting here with NR via Noiseware Pro on background and less sharpening. Still not sure how to proceed with the eyes, so would appreciate your thoughts on that when you do get the chance, Daniel. Thanks much.

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nice Melissa, what a great looking bird, love the close-up portrait, eye contact, and the fine mesh detail of feathers. Rreally like how you composed this looking through the shrubs.
Repost looks much better, and sure Dan will help you out regarding eyes.

[Grace Scalzo]

Now that is a way cool image. Love the peek-a-boo effect and the stare. Way to see and execute an opportunity, Melissa.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Love the narrative and especially the repost regards the eyes the multiple highlights don't bother me one bit, if that is how it was why do we need to change it? I suppose you could brush out all the shiny bits and leave the white single highlight that is at about 1 o'clock but that is not how it was. I know this is double standards because I clone as much as anyone but I really don't see the need to always have one perfect catchlight in bird's eyes. Sorry I don't intend to hijack your super image and story or create an endless debate - lovely shot I like it very much.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Melissa, the repost looks much better as far as sharpening and noise goes...well done! For the eyes, I didn't go all crazy and I found that keeping a good amount of reflections on the upper part of the eye worked best. I used the clone stamp to block a good chunk of the reflections on both eyes, then for the right tip of the left eye's reflection I cloned in the same part of the right eye's reflection...this helped make the left eye look more rounded up there. Mostly a quick and dirty job, experimenting with the full resolution image would work much better but hopefully you like it.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for the feedback, all.
Jonathan, I think you make a good point, and I felt torn about that too...sometimes I feel it's more important to be true to the situation than to be, well, perfect. Or I thought that until I just looked at what Daniel did! When I compare it to my version, it just really sets the hawk off so much better, really does it justice. My eye bounces all over the place when I look at the first eyes, but rests nicely on the gaze of the hawk in the repost. So thank you Daniel, you did a great job. I will follow your instructions on the original. Hugely helpful.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent close up shot. Love the background and how its framed, wonderful stare and detail is amazing.
Daniel's repost really made a big difference.
Well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Extremely beautiful close-up shot.Great head-on pose and stare,loved the details on bird.

[Christian Neumann]

Great portrait, Melissa! Love the pose and composition.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the feedback, all.
Jonathan, I think you make a good point, and I felt torn about that too...sometimes I feel it's more important to be true to the situation than to be, well, perfect. Or I thought that until I just looked at what Daniel did! When I compare it to my version, it just really sets the hawk off so much better, really does it justice. My eye bounces all over the place when I look at the first eyes, but rests nicely on the gaze of the hawk in the repost. So thank you Daniel, you did a great job. I will follow your instructions on the original. Hugely helpful.

Melissa I have to agree, I liked your earlier one, but Dan - you did a good job!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm glad you like the repost Melissa...you too Jonathan!

[Craig Kerr]

An opportunity beautifully taken, love the natural masking and detail on the bird, stunning !!

[Richard Unsworth]

Fab shot and top work pp, just shows the depth of knowledge here; Melissa you did a great job in seeing and capturing
I always amazed when I see pics developed like this.

[gail bisson]

I am late to the party on this one. I like the first repost (addressing the oversharpening and noise) and Daniel's repost. My gut feeling is that I wish I could see more of him but still like the framing effect.
Gail

[Conrad Tan]

LOVE IT!

[Mitch Carucci]

Love the greenery. It adds to this portrait by tunneling our vision right to the dramatic pose.