First Post - Gray Jay
Really enjoying seeing all of the great images and reading the critiques and other forums. Lots of time on my hands these days so perfect to go back and revisit images like this one. Shot with canon t1i: 400mm/5.6 @ f8 x 1/400 aperature priority. PP in PS elements: levels, USM, cloned out branch in upper left corner. Would welcome comments/critiques.
Hi Sandy, big welcome to BPN and the Eager to Learn forum. Nice first post, lots to like here. Good job on the exposure and composition, just a couple of issues to mention. The image seems soft to me, maybe just a bit more sharpening would help. There is a slight blue/red (purple) cast to the image, just a bit of color balance adjustment in PS or LR. I see a bit of noise in the background also, could use some NR there. I took the liberty of making a couple of changes along these lines, adding a bit of sharpening and noise reduction as well as adjusting the color balance a bit. Looking forward to seeing more from you!
"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
Sandy,
As Kerry mentioned welcome, you have enough to digest with the advise above but key points are noise reduction and exposure technique. Bird photography is all about getting the eye and head area clear and sharp many of us put the focus point on the eye. A well lit face with a sharp eye usually makes for a strong bird picture. The staple of any photograph is the subject placement and composition and this is well done. As the photographer you control the frame and this image is well balanced with a very unique subject head gesture. I like the picture, remember BPN has an Education and Tutorial Forum too. Thanks for sharing keep em coming.
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 04-10-2012 at 11:03 PM.
Thanks to you both. Kerry, I'm glad you pointed out the color cast-that's definitely something I need to remember to look at. I guess the first clue was that the grey jay wasn't really grey. I'm ususally a little worried about over-sharpening so I don't always push it very far but I really like the result in Kerry's version. Thanks again for the pointers!
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