Crane pair taking off early in the morning at Bosque. The sun was just coming out and caused the background to glow. I cloned out an oof duck and another crane in the frame. If you notice closely, the crane in the bottom still has icicles on both legs where the top of the water reached.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Is the background too bright and colorful? I am seeing the images on this forum a bit more saturated than on my drive. I would like to know if that is the case here too.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any/all
Any pertinent technical details:
840mm on tripod, 1/1000s@F7.1, ISO800. Cropped off a bit from the bottom.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Yes, I believe the BG is quite over-saturated, and pulls the eye. I’d tone it down quite bit.
I’d throw the “shadow control” (slider in CC 18-19) over the birds if they still seem too dark.
Nice catch
Sandy
Knew immediately where this was taken because of the brilliant colors. I’ve never had the pleasure of being there so I’ll have to defer to those who have and know if the background color is accurate. I do know that the colors drew me in and the cranes were secondary, but decidedly a plus. I like the pano format and might even crop just a little more off the top to remove the dark on the left. Nice capture.
Yes, I think the bg is overpowering. I think it could be brought down and still convey the glow from the rising sun. I haven’t noticed that any of my images appear more saturated on the forum than from my catalog.
I do like the poses and positions of the birds.
This is a great shot of a crane taking off with the splash, leg and wing position. The upper crane somehow gets lost in the background and perhaps the background can be toned down and the shadow detail brought up in the crane.
Hi Govind. As in the roadrunner image, the background does seem rather overpowering. You must have had some wild light. I think I’d tone down the background and bring up the exposure on the cranes a bit-maybe even warm them up a trifle. I’d also remove the tall bifurcated splash behind the main one as I find it a bit distracting. Lovely take-off poses. I’ve always considered the take-off of these birds one of the most beautiful to photograph.
Govind, this is nice catch to get the good timing and the pair separated. The muddy splash and galloping takeoff gait is very cool. You’ve got good lead-in space for the birds. I know the early morning light can be a challenge there at first light (I assume this was at the crane pools on the highway). I tend to agree the saturation could use some taming. Just a nitpick, I would remove the OOF plant, detracts from the nice splash. (@Dennis_Plank, “bifurcated” - really!!??)
Thank you all for your feedback. Sorry, I was caught up with some work this week and couldn’t respond earlier. I have tried your suggestions, but looks like it needs a fair bit of work to make the background less prominent.
@Dennis_Plank: The colors there were quite vibrant especially when the sun came out, but I thought that is usual for this location, I used minimal saturation in all my images (part of my usual RAW processing), so am not sure why they are so colorful this time around.
Stellar image! I think the processing was well done, but I do agree that the background looks over saturated.
