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Thread: Great crested gebes

  1. #1
    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Default Great crested gebes

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    Canon 7D Canon 500mm f4 L IS &1.4TC 1, tripod, ISO 640 - 0.3EV, 1/640 sec f5.6
    After about 5 years I have at last got the pose I wanted! Maybe one day I will get a similar one but in decent light, for months now the west coast of UK has had low lying grey cloud and hardly ever a sign of blue sky......one day!
    I took some shots as low as possible but this was from a slightly higher view point, sometimes at low angles the background became messy. NR to background and a little selective colour with a quick sponge on the birds to try to bring out a little more.
    All C & C welcome.

  2. #2
    Ofer Levy
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    This is an incredible shot!!! Poses couldn't have been any better!! You did a great job with the poor light. My only suggestion is to move the birds a bit up in the frame or crop off the top.

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    What an incredible frame.

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    Forum Participant christopher galeski's Avatar
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    nice image,I would like a bit more room on the bottom,your right about the light here in the northwest,its doing my head in.well done.

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    Wowee! Shot of a lifetime! Agree with Ofer's placement suggestion. Congratulations, Jonathan!

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    Lifetime Member Colin Driscoll's Avatar
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    Made me smile! What a comical pair. Lovely shot. Light is excellent.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Jonathan:

    Perfect mirror image poses, love the mouthfuls. Well done in challenging light.

    I certainly would try some subtle flash use in these dreary circumstances, if allowed. I run into this situation with my loons a lot.

    In a perfect world, wish I could see just a bit more pupil, but perhaps this species doesn't show much?

    Agree with Ofer's comp suggestion.

    Cheers

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    A GREAT ACTION shot! A true winner! Such a great work for a 5 years period of trying to get it! BIG congrats on this one!

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Thanks for the encouraging comments - really appreciated, I agree I should have improved the composition at bit - but hey I was so exited - just had to post it!! Randy I did have a look at the eyes and I brightened the one on the right, coincidentally I was just processing another similar image baring in mind the composition and I had a look at the pupils - I kinda guessed where they were - or should be and darkened a little with the Burn tool. Maybe the next will be a tad better?

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    Cmon Jonathan, face up and admit there is a mirror in there some where, beautiful shot. I agree with Offer's comment on the crop.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Jon, this looks even better second time around. Capturing similar poses really takes this up a notch, and just love the beaks full of wet grasses. Overall well exposed, as the droplets are visible on the bodies, and both nice and sharp. I wasnt there, but with you describing the conditions, you have done extremely well, and I can see why you are as happy as a bunny. Congrats on your long awaited shot.

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    Jon, this is an incredible shot. Perfect timing, perfect poses. I feel your excitement and I agree with it too. I'm sure with some time end PP work you can get the best out of this fantastic image. Big congratulations.

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    BPN Viewer Sachin Saraf's Avatar
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    Incredible!! You captured wonderful frame of behavior...

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Cool! Congrats on getting the image you had envisioned! Neat double pose and I actually like the "dreary" light. I agree with Randy about the pupils and Ofer about the comp...but man this is sweet!!

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    Congrats on getting what you wanted !!!! this is just about perfect ....the pose , the interaction , exposure , BG !!!!

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    What a killer shot! Mirrored images couldn't be better. I agree with Ofer on the crop. Awesome!

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    BPN Viewer Dave Leroy's Avatar
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    What great poses and good for you to have "seen" the shot five years ago and stuck with it. Grey, gloomy light can be a big challenge to just get out and you have done very well. Cool looking birds.

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    BPN Viewer Phillip Tomkinson's Avatar
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    Very nice, was it taken at mere sands wood.

    Phil.


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    Congratulations, Jonathan, and thanks for the story. I can imagine just how you feel and I'm glad for you!

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    BPN Viewer Ciaran Walsh's Avatar
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    Great capture, I agree the lighting gives the image a very natural look. I like it like that.

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    Wonderful image johnathan the pose and interaction is truly beautiful. I pulled the image into PS and looked at the histogram and the image looks slightly under exposed you have room on the right to side the tonalities that way which will brighten the whole image and you could also pull the mid tones up which will also brighten the image.
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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Cool behavioral image but could have been processed much better.... Did a lot: darkened the pupils, NIK Tonal Contrast on the dark feat.) hers only, Detail Enhancer on the light feathers only. (Made selections using the Quick Selection Tool. Lightened the whole thing and then the face after selectively sharpening that....
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    A great situation, Arthur's repost is very good.

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    Excellent shot. Poses on both grebes are superb. Excellent detail, great timing, and Arthur's repost really brought out more detail.
    Well done.

  25. #25
    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Thanks again to everyone for the C&C, and thanks to you Artie for taking the time to reprocess the image, I can see what you were aiming for. I genuinely think that on all of my previous images when you have reprocessed them they have looked better, but with the greatest respect I do not think this is entirely so in this instance. In fairness to you had you started with the raw image I suspect it would have been a better result.
    The reasons I feel the reprocess have not been entirely favourable are as follows:
    The light was very dull- grey skies and low light
    The birds appear to be too bright on my screen (it is profiled and the BPN calibration strip looks good)
    The heads (particularly the one on the left look over-sharpened to me
    The pupils were not at all visible, I appreciate it would have been nice to have seen a hint but in this case I think they look rather false given the lighting conditions, (I appreciate that simply becasue I could not see them it does not mean they were not there in the first place).
    I will take another look at the raw file, having seen the re-post I appreciate that perhaps I can tease a little more detail out - for me personally I think somewhere in between my original and Artie's re-post would be optimal. Once again Artie thanks for taking time you have made me re-evaluate my original submission and along with previous comments regarding composition I think I will have a pretty good image.

  26. #26
    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    YAW. I do believe that in life that the bird had pupils :). My calibration strip looks fine too. Several folks noted that the image in Pane 1 looked dark. I state often there there will always be small differences in folks' monitors.... Many folks do believe that in crappy light that the image should look correspondingly bad; with film, yes, but not with digital.
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  27. #27
    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    this one is a winner, super interaction and nice that both are sharp. the interaction element and symmetrical pose takes this to the top.

    I like Artie's repost with corrected brightness, I am ok with the orig regarding pupil visibility
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