Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Just a wonderful day in the swamp
Cropping and white bird processing help
Lunix S5
Hi Steve, I really like this image. Love the Spanish moss and red foliage as a backdrop for the white egret. Nicely composed with the bird well placed in the frame. The white on the bird looks good to me in this image.
For what it’s worth, in even light I try to keep RGB values around 230,230,230 for the brightest white on the bird but that can vary based on the actual light in the image. I brought your image down to my computer and it checked out well. Didn’t see anything near the 255 mark - 225 was the highest value I saw. I’m not a super Photoshop expert so others may have other advice.
Nice frame.
Potentially a very nice image but the image quality has a “filtered” look – or possibly too much JPEG compression. Was it a raw capture? A big crop?
It’s quite possible that humidity and thermal mixing was also a factor.
There is probably more detail to be pulled out in the whites – what software are you using? What adjustments have you done?
I love the composition, Steve, and there’s a nice pose from the egret. Whites look fine to me for early morning or possibly late evening light. There is a slightly soft look to the entire image as if it weren’t quite in focus or as @Diane_Miller noted, the atmospherics got in the way. Was this a large crop, that can cause issues as well.
I like the comp and the exposure on the egret is close to ideal. The image lacks crispness reminds me of too much noise suppression. You may want to go back to the raw file and modify your post processing to capture some additional sharpness…Jim
Oh my, a wonderful day in the swamp indeed. I love the red tones mixed in with the hanging Spanish moss. The composition looks really good to me. I’ll mention a couple of things that catch my eye right off. First, is the ULC where there is a dark branch making it’s way into the image. That could be cloned out or cropped out. Easy fix. There is also a fairly bright twig just above and slightly to the right of the egret that could also be cloned out or if you want to keep it, maybe bring down the brightness a little bit. You might also want to bring down the brights on the curving branch that the egret appears to be looking at. None of these are a big deal but simply noticeable.
Lastly, the bokeh is off somehow. The background looks smudgy if that makes sense. It doesn’t have a pleasing blur to it. As others have mentioned, the image appears to be a little bit soft for whatever reason. You don’t have any of the technical information listed so I’m wondering if this was hand held with maybe too slow a shutter speed or there may be atmospherics in play here as well. All in all, a really beautiful setting, with great composition, a nice subject and stellar perch. I wish I was there with you to take this shot.
Thanks everyone
I went back to the raw and tried to rework it. My bottom line is that it is just out of focus.
