Hi David, certainly different and I do like the pose. There is a lot of blown HL's which need taming, and I'm personally not sure about the OOF vegetation at the foot. Just a thought, but I'm assuming this is a crop, but how about a 16x10 crop where the water is just the bottom third, with a bit more to the LHS? I might be tempted with a bit more richness and tone in the fruit tree?
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi David, certainly different and I do like the pose. There is a lot of blown HL's which need taming, and I'm personally not sure about the OOF vegetation at the foot. Just a thought, but I'm assuming this is a crop, but how about a 16x10 crop where the water is just the bottom third, with a bit more to the LHS? I might be tempted with a bit more richness and tone in the fruit tree?
TFS
Steve
Hi Steve, Thanks as always for your valued inputs. To explain my image design on this one, as I approached the scene on my bike, I knew I would have plenty of time as this female anhinga had just landed for an evening wing dry and preening session. I did know I wanted the bird as primary subject with the cool little pond apple as secondary subject. All of the bird and most of the pond apple were in the late suns shade due to the cypress trees lining the banks. You can see some light getting through on the pond apple to the left. You can also see the far bank and most of the water were in full late sun. I began taking a couple images while sizing up the scene. Main goal was to get bird and tree (right to the water) in the frame. First tried high POV with bright water as BG for both subjects. Too much of a down angle and a no go for me. So, decided to put bird against the bright far bank and tree in high key water. It looked the best to me. I exposed the scene in camera for the anhinga and ETTR with water partially blown. I wanted to stop down more to get the entire pond apple in DOF, but it drew in too much detail on the far bank (@200 not enough compression). Since it's mirrorless, I also saw a slight rim light on the neck and head from bright light behind. In PP with my limited skills took some off of both sides and a bright sliver off the top. So framing was for both pond apple and bird. All blown highlights are in the bright water only and added a high key emphasis to the tree. So, I left them. Focus was right on the neck and head of the anhinga. Per your suggestions and with my very limited PP skills. I toned down the water and added a couple points of black to the lower half for the tree. The OOF spadderdock was unavoidable as I wanted to get the tree all the way to the water. Yes, a little distracting but adds a little more Florida feel to the image. What do you think?
AS always valued inputs greatly appreciated. Keep them coming.
Hey David . A beautiful Florida scene you captured here. Love the Apple tree for the perch. The foreground is not bad as it is minimal. I do wish the leaf on the right did not merge the tree. You got a good classic look back from the Anhinga.