The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I took this shot back in May at a NWR. The fish managed to get away but without his tail, I believe.
Specific Feedback
I was in close with him, and so I should have backed off on the zoom even more, but I was in the moment and neglected to do that. So this is almost a full crop. Does the composition work? Anything else one sees that would improve the image.
Technical Details
Canon R5, Sigma 150-600 at 435mm. HH all manual setting except auto ISO, f6.3, 1/3200, ISO 3200. Edited in LR.
This is a great catch, Shirley. A fun action shot (well, maybe not fun for the fish) and everything is well exposed. Good details without blowing out the whites. Looks good to me. Well done.
This is really cool, Shirley. I love the tail hold and the curve of the fish’s body. The beautiful single drop of water adds a lot in my opinion. Y ou might want to play with that brighter upper part of the background-it keeps trying to pull my eye right past the egret.
I think it’s wonderful you didn’t zoom out!! The detail and perfect focus on the poor fish is fantastic! The bird’s eye is also sharp, the fish is in a great pose and the water drop is the perfect grace note. I think you could crop quite a bit from the left to highlight the action!
Hi Shirley, love the water drop and the fish angled in that direction. Sharp in the critical areas where it needs to be. I think the close up looks works great here. Since I think you have the NIK collection, I’m wondering what trying to tone down the brighter area on the upper right would look like but this is still a fine image either way. Well done!
Thank you @terryb@Dennis_Plank@Diane_Miller and @Allen_Sparks for viewing and commenting. Yes, I think in close was a good thing to get the fish and that little droplet. Allen, I do have an old version of NIK and I was wondering if upgrading is worth it? I haven’t upgraded since version 3 I think, might be 4. Anyway, your thoughts would be appreciated. LR is improving so much these days that I’m not using NIK nowhere near as much as I used to. In this case though, you are right it could work nicely. If time premits today maybe I can give it a try.
Hi Shirley, I have an old version of NIK too and haven’t upgraded in a while since Viveza 3 does what I want it to really well. Don’t think I can comment on the benefits of upgrading it.
Really like this shot!
Hi Shirley, I like the repost but toning down the BG also brought down exposure on the bird which I don’t think was needed. Wonder if there is a way to mask that part out.
An extra set of eyes, nothing like it @Allen_Sparks I put the control point on the beak, thinking the colors were in the browns department, and never even noticed that it changed the exposure of the bird. My goof. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it. Thank you for catching that.
I haven’t upgraded in a while because they want $$ for what appears to be nothing but a bunch more stupid presets, which I never use. Never. It’s been asking me to upgrade for quite a while now and I can’t see any reason to do so. It doesn’t look like there are any substantive improvements. If so, they don’t want to bother me with any explanation of them.
I tried to find out what version I have and it’s very puzzling – I managed to pull up some sort of screen – by opening CEP, which I often use, and clicking on a tiny logo in the UR of the screen. It says I have Version 5.0.4.1 x86 (v4.3.4). I thought I hadn’t upgraded since v4. Then I got to the Selective Tool list (somehow) and it shows versions between 2 and 4 for the various components of the suite. Go figure… Then I found that after I pulled up that little screen, PS was apparently frozen and I had to force quit.
I use the Nik Suite as PS plugins, since it is going to give me a rasterized TIFF anyway if I use it as a standalone from LR. At least from PS I have the power and flexibility of layers, including masking and blending modes.
BUT, back to the initial issue of darkening the top, you should be able to do that in LR. I’m honestly not up to speed on the new masking tools, since I can do it all in PS, but they look quite amazing. I’m sure many others here can explain it – I know @Kris_Smith has mentioned these new tools quite a bit. Maybe she can offer some help.
I agree with you, @Diane_Miller I can’t figure out for sure what version I have either, and they keep up dating the presets like you said, and I never use them either. I just worked with NIK and then I did the edited it again using LR mask and I will post both.
Another approach is to do a select subject, which gave a very good result (although I always check it by hitting the Q key to see the selection as a mask and zooming in and touching up the edge glitches) and selected the inverse and did some 50% opacity cloning to remove or smooth out even more details. Also did a crop that feels much more balanced to me.
Shirley, both your latest reposts look good to me. They also seem quite similar. I guess different methods to get similar results. The upper right BG is darkened enough to not draw my eye as much as the original post did. Good work!
Thank you both @Allen_Sparks and @Diane_Miller Yes, I like what Diane did too. Thank you. Just different ways to get the same or similar results. LR is really starting to provide about all the tools I need. I know a lot of you are working in PS too, and that is good. All in the one price package with Adobe, and we aren’t needing the other software nearly as much. Thank you.
I apologize for hijacking @Shirley_Freeman post, but I didn’t realize one could select subject, then inverse. I tried this on a photo I am thinking of posting but didn’t because I couldn’t get it exactly like I wanted it. I tried this and it worked like a champ! Thanks! (In PhotoShop Elements)
