brown pelican

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1

pelican-IF2c-copy.jpg
pelican-IF2c-copy.jpg5085×3656 783 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

these birds are really fun to watch. They move fast and rarely in straight-line. They seem to congregate together so if you seem like you’ll probably see more. This was taken in Southern California. Excellent fishers. And they are pretty big when you consider that most my Images are tiny little birds. I really liked the lighting on This one taken in early morning before the sun hit the cliffs In the background.

Specific Feedback

any

Technical Details

Iso 4000, 400+ 1.4 extender, handheld, F6 .3, 2000th

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1 Like
2

Hi David, dynamic pose and lighting with a dramatic setting. I like the wing position and the placement in the frame. The bird seems to have a bit of noise and some halos. Perhaps some of the more advanced noise reduction tools could work well here. A fine capture.

3

Allen
this was taken at iso 125 so there shouldn’t be any noise and I don’t see it on the image that I think I posted. It’s about 30% of offering maybe a little less. Sony A1. I also don’t see that halo. I do see some smearing in the background of some of the rock Color but I don’t think it’s a halo.

in any case here’s a repost that was done from scratchm the original ARF file. I think I process it exactly the same way as I processed the other one.
I did select the bird and inverse the background and just darkened it very slightly With scant Gaussian blur For better separation between the burden rocks which are a little distracting.

pelican-IF2b2-j2
pelican-IF2b2-j25236×3488 1.11 MB

anyway I’m really curious as to what you are seeing? Thanks a lot for your help David

4

Wonderful!! I like the cliffs, which have modern art look, but the bird has a very strange look. I think the issue is that the selection got into the bird. In PS you can look a selection by hitting the Q key to see the corresponding mask, and paint on it to refine it. The Q again to go back to the improved selection. Many programs intentionally do a soft selection so adjustments don’t kook like cutouts, but sometimes you need to match edges perfectly.

You might try reducing BG contrast and some 50% opacity cloning, and then a less-strong blur.

5

As far as the halo I see in the original, I think Diane is on the right track with the selection issue.
I only see the noise in the largest size so I’d say that’s pretty minor. I don’t see it at all in the second version you posted.

Actually I don’t see any of those issues with the second post (in comments). I would be very happy with that one as my final version. A well done capture.

6

Thanks folks. I will give your suggestions a try.

7

Its odd what happened with your first posted image David, but your second post looks great.