-
Morning Rough Legged
Instead of watching the super bowl this weekend, I drove around the Lower Klamath Lake NWR to see what was going on. It's still too early in the year for most of the migrants so I just hunted for raptors. Let me know what you think!
Canon 40D
400mm @ 5.6
1/400
400ISO
Manual, Eval Metering
~50%FF, NR, sharpening, various layers of curves, a little color correction, a little dodge & burn, cloned out a couple of distracting bits of straw.
Edit: Mis-identified - this is a rough-legged. I also got photos of harriers the same day and got them switched in my head. Hawks are hard. *sigh*
Last edited by SteveYoung; 02-07-2012 at 05:35 PM.
Reason: Mis-identified hawk
-
BPN Viewer
Steve,
I like it, and love the perch and natural setting. I am on the iPad and moving around is a bit clumsy for me. Since you used the 400 5.6 prime I assume it was hh not bad but a bit soft was it a large crop. I might remove a layer from the bottom and top but the natural grasses and background compliments the subject. True you did miss a good game but this was a great moment with nature so on balance, you were the winner here - keep em coming.
-
Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
-
Yep, it was a big crop. The birds out there seem to be more skittish than most and the 400 really is the bare minimum to get any kind of useable shot. Also, getting a good balance between low noise and high detail is proving to be a challenge.
-
BPN Member
Hello Steve, you made a nice capture here and I was out looking for birds also, while the rest of the free world watched the Stupor Bowl. You did better than I did, my hawk was about a mile up in the sky and it would have required the Hubble Telescope to bring it in... 
Two things come to mind immediately regarding this image - I think it is about 1/3 stop over-exposed and the surrounding environment is too busy. While the hawk is very strong as an anchor for the image, the dead grasses all around really compete for the eye's attention. The balance between low noise and high detail is always there, but the more you can fill your frame with your subject the less the challenge will be. I understand completely, as I am shooting with the 400mm also, but it is a reality of bird photography that you either have to get closer or have bigger glass. You did well with what you have to work with here and the environment isn't terribly distracting, but could be better.
"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
-
BPN Viewer
Steve,
Now I am home and off the ipad on the Macbook. I like the habitat but it could be pruned a bit especially on the top and bottom. The exposure needs more mid-tones, was the histogram clipped on the right side. Use recovery slider or exposure adjustments to bring it back in check. The hawk might have a hot spot on the breast as well. This is a mid tone shot that needs to be exposed for the brights. Always dial in the setting to handle the bright spots first.
When you mention 400 assume you are referring to shutter, in this case a bit faster would have helped the exposure and detail. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming.
-
I made some of the changes you guys suggested. I didn't want to completely eliminate the environment but did clone out a bunch more stalks and obviously recropped. Improvement?
-
Lifetime Member
Steve,
Greetings. The pano crop draws attention to the oof grasses on right to my eye. Also seems to have a bit of a magenta cast to my eye. Trade for a slight greenish-yellow cast (see if it is appealing...):
Perhaps a notch too green but will give an idea of slight color adjustment (used Lab curves - a channel in=0 out=5, b channel in=0 out=1). Also used a few spot removal strokes (content aware) to knock out one vertically oriented taller grass element on right. Sharpened a dash.
OP is good looking perched shot...
Cheers,
-Michael-
-
Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
-
Thanks Michael, I appreciate the input. I did the second image I posted pretty late at night and just kinda banged out some changes to see if I was on the right track. There's definitely more that needs to happen. I might play with the color some more but I'd like to retain the feel of the early morning light. I think I must have a different aesthetic than many here because I prefer having some environment in the shot, provided it isn't directly in front or behind the subject of course.
