Redo 2
Redo
Wider View
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The Audubon Swamp is on a plantation in SC. The owners were friends and patrons of Audubon. He spent a lot of time with the Drayton family studying plantation birds.
The rookeries were former rice fields before the Civil War, where the enslaved were forced to grow rice.
Specific Feedback
The day was overcast, creating a white sky.
Topaz AI was used to sharpen and denoise the file.
I know that the image is crunchy, but I like the effect. It reminds me of Audubon’s paintings.
Also, I can not decide which crop I prefer.
Your thoughts.
Technical Details
1 Like
In the redo, I added blur and glow to reduce the crunchiness.
The redo is top image
Thanks
Steve
Lovely opportunity!! I prefer the wider view as the feet are not cut off and it shows the very nice setting. It could be cropped a bit from the bottom to where the nest narrows down.
Instead of adding blur to the oversharpened version, which does have a very artificial look, it would be better to go back to the raw file and do less sharpening (or denoise or whatever it was) in the first place.
Hi Steve. I’m with Diane on this one. I like the more open composition. Also with the “crunchiness” the tighter crop shows it more. I also agree that going back to the raw file is a good idea. The default settings in Topaz tend to overkill, so you really have to back down to get something that looks reasonable. My personal preference, if I want a painterly feel is to process the image as well as I can as a photograph and then apply a painting filter. I think it produces better results.
The interaction here is great and the image is worth a lot of work to get it just the way you want it.
Thanks @Diane_Miller and @Dennis_Plank
Redo 2 is on top
Steve
Nice job on the reprocessing, Steve.
I am with @Dennis_Plank on the painting filter as another option.
Nice repost Steve and wider composition. I like the interaction you captured here. Some sort of communication is obviously going on. Interesting shot.
Thanks everyone for all the help.
Steve
@Allen_Sparks, you observed some communication going on.
Check out my new post to see the results.
I actually like the wider view which provided context for me, and almost makes a story of “Well, didn’t YOU turn the egg?” or something like that, especially since both birds appear to be looking down at the nest. Love the fluffed breeding plumes!
I, also, prefer the wider view. Great job with the redo 2 image!
Thanks for all the help on this one.
I want to go back and see how the offspring are doing.
Steve
