A little help

Gallery: AvianPosted March 26, 2012142 views7 comments

Hello all.

I'm looking for a little help on this image. It represents success and failure at the same time. The failure of the image nearly made me delete it, but I thought I would solicit some feedback and see if my initial thoughts are correct.

This is a full frame shot edge to edge. I took a little of the bottom due to some debris and then a little off the top for symmetry.

Ok first the good points. I was hoping to get the leap shot as the bird first leaps into the air on his way into flight, done. I was also wanting some wing blur with head sharpness, done.

Unfortunately that's all I have for good points.

The bad points. The body position bothers me significantly. This is initially what had this shot in the trash can. I don't like the sort of detached hump back feeling I get. I don't like the wing position (which I initially thought I would like after I saw it in the LCD as I'd get a nice broad color sweep). I think it messes up the lines for a pleasing image. If the wings were up it would be different I think.

The other thing I feel backfired on me is the wing blur. As you might have seen with my Ibis shot, I love wing blur. It shows some motion in an otherwise static image. Here, I feel the wing blur makes the whole image appear soft even though the head, legs, and water splash are all sharp on the focal plane. I think it's too much surface area and the mind just can't take that much blur.

Thoughts? TIA

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on March 26, 2012 at 9:13 AM

Geoff, I think that you've given yourself a good and thorough self-critique here. I would add to the good points a beautiful bg and some nice trailing water drops.

I do agree that the amount of blur in the wings undermines the sharpness of the image even though, as you say, head and feets are sharp. You don't say what your techs were, but I think a faster shutter speed would have helped a lot.

I also agree with you on the wing position being less than ideal, I find personally that with shots like this, I have a strong preference for having the wings all the way up or all the way down, and that most positions in between just fall short for me.

The only other thing I'd add is that the bird feels a bit far forward in the frame (always a challenge when the bird is moving forward, sometimes using a focal point further left in the frame if the bird is going right will help, other times you'll just end up clipping the feet instead). It looks like adding a bit of canvas in front wouldn't be too difficult.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Geoff Powell on March 26, 2012 at 9:33 AM

Great points Brian. Yes, I too would love to have had some room to the right with this shot, but I didn't dare move my position being that he was so close. It was taken with the 500mm f4 so no zooming out potential there. You're confirmed my feeling on wing blur and positioning in these kinds of shots. I was playing with fire with that slower shutter speed. Perhaps adding a bit of canvass in front as you suggest might lessen the softening effect of the viewable surface area of the wing blur and thereby create a more pleasing panoramic image. I play around with it a bit. I appreciate your thoughtful response. Thanks.

Registered on March 20, 2012, 21 Posts, 170 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 26, 2012 at 11:18 AM

I think you have done a pretty good job of critiqueing this one, Geoff. I do think that with a little more room in the image, the OOF wing may not be such a dominant feature in the image.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 26, 2012 at 2:35 PM

I do like what you are attempting to get in a take off shot and I would keep on this practicing this, it will make for a very nice shot when it falls into place. I also like what Brian said about the wing position and being forward in the frame. Unfortunately the large size of the wing blur in the middle of the frame gets my attention right away before I can appreciate the good points in this image.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Geoff Powell on March 26, 2012 at 6:06 PM

Thanks all.

Registered on March 20, 2012, 21 Posts, 170 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on March 26, 2012 at 8:24 PM

I like the pose and the water colors but I find myself a little dissapointed that it is not totally sharp probably due to camera shake or motion blur.I don't mind wing blur it's the image as a whole that seems a bit blurred.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Geoff Powell on March 27, 2012 at 8:02 AM

Thanks Cheryl.

I wonder if you could indulge me once more. I think what you're experiencing is the optical illusion of such a large prominent surface area of blur. To test that, view this head crop and tell me if you think the follicles on the back of the neck could be that singular in a soft over all image. I couldn't do 100% because I wasn't sure if I had to keep the same 725px thing for the comments (100% was I believe 1050 or so), but the LR settings on sharpness are 55, .7, 30. No NR or luminance.

Thanks.

Registered on March 20, 2012, 21 Posts, 170 Comments