I was photographing ducks on one of the channels at Ridgefield last Wednesday when I saw this hawk fly up into a tree a nit further down the road. I hadn’t seen it leave when I was done with the ducks, so I watched the trees as I drove and found one spot with a clear angle. The background was ugly back-lit branches and White sky, so I decided to try creating my own sky background. Is it at all believable?
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 275 mm, beanbag on car window, f/8, 1/640, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Most of the sky was done in PS, but I made a few last minute adjustments in LR.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
What do we have? A Diagonal line, rule of thirds, a very interesting perch, and let’s not forget a beautiful bird. The background, while not the usual mostly perfectly boring blue sky, is now some subtle wispy clouds that aren’t even noticed… I say well done.
I’d never have known if you hadn’t fessed up. The hawk is so well captured, the background (regardless of source) is of no consequence. Nice to have the soul baring, but no demerits.
Excellent job in saving this wonderful image. The hawk is tack sharp and the perch is super. I see no evidence of adding the BG to this image. I say great job!
A very nice image of the hawk. I have tried to do the same as you did(creating a new background), but with varying success. Because of this, I took a close look at your work and I have questions regarding two areas: the first is along the edge of the right wing, where there seems to be some sky bleeding into the body of the wing (or not, it may just be how the wing is shaped); and the second is there appears to be a branch across the right wing that is floating in space.
It would be interesting to see your original image and even a brief tutorial on how you did such a nice job.
I like the composition fine, and to me the sky seems to match the light on the bird and perch quite well. Like Sandy, I think you could bring the levels up a bit.
That perch is to die for. Great view of the hawk. The detail is excellent. Would have never known you replaced the BG. I do think I see an artifact to the right of the bird, just above the perch. I think you could up the mid- and dark tones a touch. Now that I know the BG isn’t natural sky, something seems a touch off with the color of the blue. It also makes me wonder whether the stick that is on the bird is actually touching the bird or a remnant of the previous BG? I’d love to read an article about how you replaced the BG!
