Nature Photographers Network
This is the preserved archive of the original Nature Photographers Network. The community continues at naturephotographers.network.
Repost of On Approach Series
‹ PreviousAvian GalleryNext ›

Repost of On Approach Series

by David E Lester

Gallery: AvianPosted January 29, 2013109 views7 comments
I am trying to master getting the shadows and highlights right. The sun again was above to the right (mid morning) causing alot of under the wing shadows. I darken the head some to try and pull detail out of it and lightened the under wings without pusing it, hopefully they look right? Applied some noise reduction in the shadows under the wings hopefully not loosing to much deatil. I cloned the branches so they do not run off the edge of the bottom and upper right. Cropped for this comp which is about 30% of original.
C&C welcome

Canon 7D, 100-400L @ 360mm, 1/800sec, f/8, iso 200, AP, eval metering and tripod used

Comments

7 comments
Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on January 29, 2013 at 8:29 PM
This looks so cool! I like that he's pointed down with his legs dangling. I like that the tree is at the bottom of the photo instead of just an eagle and blue sky! Great photo! :smile:
Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments
Comment posted by Jerry Austin on January 29, 2013 at 9:58 PM
Your shots are improving. The best yet. Good job.
Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments
Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 29, 2013 at 10:06 PM
Nice shot of this bird coming in for a landing - good exposure too but you can tell that there was quite a bit of cropping. I'd like to see a version with less area cropped away
Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments
Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 29, 2013 at 10:21 PM
a nice pose and comp, David. I personally would not have any objection to the branches leaving the frame, and I think that the tip of the top right one looks a little off and I believe I see a few streaks from the cloning. I think your processing looks good, it's certainly a challenge to get these well-exposed if the light is bright.
Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 29, 2013 at 11:17 PM
Your "shadows/highlights" work looks good to my eye, David. I'm not sure about the noise reduction-I'd have to see the original to know how I'd approach the trade-off. Many people won't use it at all on the bird. At iso 200, you shouldn't need to do so unless you really increased the brightness under the wings.

:toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments
Comment posted by David E Lester on January 29, 2013 at 11:21 PM
Repost with the branches running there course, still about 30% of original...
Registered on March 24, 2010, 155 Posts, 793 Comments
Comment posted by Elizabeth Arellano on January 30, 2013 at 1:12 PM
Magnanimous capture.
Registered on February 18, 2008, 35 Posts, 302 Comments