White Ibis Displaying

[Vince Pack]

I took this image in 2000 while still using film in my F5. The Film was Velvia pushed one stop. The lens was a 500mmf4P. I don't have the aperture or shutter speed on file. Just had this and several other transparencies scanned. Hope you enjoy...

[Samuel Mulder]

Vince, you caught a neat moment of action here. It must have been fun to watch.

With the birds this small in the frame, you really need to think like a landscape photographer. I feel like the composition is weak, because all of the birds are centered vertically and on the edges horizontally. The large amount of fuzzy water and grass in bottom of the frame doesn't add anything. I might be tempted to try this as a pano. I would like to see a bit more space on either side so the birds aren't hugging the frame.

The other main issue I see here is that the whites on the birds look a little hot, at least on my monitor. You might be able to bring them down a touch in post. Are you able to see detail on the full size image? The plane of focus also appears to be a bit behind the birds, although it is hard to judge sharpness on this size image.

I like what you are trying to accomplish here. Hopefully these comments are helpful.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I agree with Samuel. Since you were relatively far away, I would go with a pano crop. The whites look a bit overexposed and it would have been great if the birds on the left would have faced you more.

[Jim Neiger]

Hi Vince,

I like the action you've captured, but it's just to small in the frame and the restof the image doesn't do it for me. The others have given you some good suggestions.

[Vince Pack]

Thanks! Image selection has always been a weak point of mine. I tend to prefer images that evoke an emotion (either when viewed or perhaps a memory of the shoot, itself) over another image that may be a little more "sterile" yet technically accurate. I definitely need to work on this. I have better Ibis images, for some reason, this one just stood out on the light table. I can always use the excuse that it didn't look quite as "off" through the loupe, but then I posted it here, so I guess that won't work. either ;) Anyhow, I have another Ibis image that I'll post later. I just read the forum guidelines and saw that I can only post every 48hrs, so I'll put it up tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'll look at some crop options for this one.

Also, Sam caught me. The plane of focus is very slighty off. I can try a pano, but I don't know how much I can crop before the focus issue becomes too much.

One other comment/question. Several of you commented that the whites looked a little "hot" on your monitors. This is one that I don't see. I did the conversions in LR and the histogram shows no clipping (only a few pin dots clipped black), and I see detail in the plumage. I can pull down the highlights, but the image seems to go a little dull when I do it to a noticable degree. So here's the question. All I use it LR. Is this an issue that could better be fixed in CS2/3? I don't have any real experience in Photoshop, so I don't really know it's strengths as compared to LR except that you can do more spot oriented corrections - plus the host of crazy image manipulations that graphics people use.

Thanks again. I'll try to be more selective, but knowing this image isn't as pleasing to others as it is to me helps. I'll nail one eventually! :D

Just as an aside, does the displaying Ibis not remind anyone of Mick Jagger? Also, I thought the fact that none of the other Ibis are paying him a bit of attention was a little comical. I remember he did this for a while before settling down. He never really got any reaction. Poor guy.

[Samuel Mulder]

Thanks! Image selection has always been a weak point of mine. I tend to prefer images that evoke an emotion (either when viewed or perhaps a memory of the shoot, itself) over another image that may be a little more "sterile" yet technically accurate. I definitely need to work on this.

I do too Vince! The real trick is to create images that have both :D I look forward to seeing more of your Ibis images.

As for the whites, I think there are two reasons they are looking a bit hot. One is that the rest of the scene is so dark, the contrast makes the whites look brighter. The other issue is that with the front-most birds slightly out of focus, the detail isn't there, so it looks blown. The print is the real place to judge.

[Jody Melanson]

Here it is as a pano.