The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Crested Serpent Eagle on a perch, photographed from a boat. It’s a very old image, taken in the year 2008.
Specific Feedback
I’m posting this image with a specific request.
Today while scrolling Instagram, I came across a profile, which IMHO was a ‘good photographer’ , nothing more than that. But I was shocked to see that his following was 1.5 million. I perfectly understand that social media is a different game altogether. He mainly shot birds and those were heavily processed, which I understand that most people view it on the small screen of mobile.
I’ve been more of a purist photographer through out. After observing his style, I processed this image in a similar fashion, so I’m keen to see your immediate reaction.
FROM THE MODERATORS: For reference, here’s a link to Jagdeep’s original post of this bird.
Technical Details
Canon 40D; 500 mm; ISO 400; 1/400 sec at f 5
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
J, first an foremost social media is just that. Most are not photo aficionados. This is an extremely fine profile take of this eagle. I cannot say I see any extreme processing out of the norm here.
IMVHO it truly is personal tastes in the end as I do not cater to the crowd. If the image is excessively overdone it usually becomes apparent even with tired and aging eyes. So, for me this looks spot on…
My first thought is that I don’t think that post processing really impacts the reach of social media as much as other factors, so I don’t know if I would change my personal process in hopes of gaining more followers. I don’t think that’s your goal here, but I felt I needed to offer that.
Overall I really like the portrait of the bird and I think you did a nice job extracting all of its details without making it looked to baked. Also love the light coming in from the right and perhaps back of the bird. Based on the lighting on the bird, it appears to be slightly backlit (from the back right). If so, I love that. Well done!
The one change I would make immediately would be to eliminate the branch in the upper left corner of the frame. In addition to being a bit distracting, I don’t think it provides any value to the portrait of this beautiful bird.
Second, and less important, and I don’t know if you cropped at all, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more room to the right of the bird to see more of what it is looking toward. This would place it in the left third of the image just a touch more.
Hi J Rajput
I first glance I thought you were posting a photograph from the new R1 or R5 Mark ll, not a 10meg, 16 year old camera. This just proves that glass 400mm f4 and the photographer’s skill or more important than the camera body. As for style, the only thing that looks a little over processed is the eye and bill. The rest of the Eagle looks naturally sharp, with good color. But it is the framing that sell the photograph not the processing.
Peter
Disclaimer: I don’t use any social media.
IMO, most people looking at photos on Facebook, etc are just looking for pretty pictures, and have no understanding of processing, or degree of difficulty getting the shot. Most probably don’t know what is realistic or not.
As far as your re-processing of this old image - looks fine to me, but maybe just a tiny bit over-sharpened. That dark branch does need to go, though!
Interesting question, Jagdeep. This looks like you took a fine image originally. I do find it just a bit oversharpened/oversaturated but not grossly so. If people are looking at images on phones, I don’t see a lot of point in getting fancy on the processing as almost anything looks good on that small a screen. I won’t even try to critique an image viewed on my tablet and I’m hesitant on a laptop. As far as how one gets social media followers, I have no clue. I do remember reading a few years ago that you can buy them if you really think you need a lot.
Hi Jagdeep, this image looks good to me maybe a little overly crisp in the plumage but not by much. I’m not sure about the social media question. It may have to do by how hard the individual recruits others and comments on others’ work. In any event, I like this image. I could see removing the branch in upper right if you are so inclined.
Jagdeep, this is just a really nice looking owl and a great image. The only thing I would consider doing differently is to remove the OOF stick up in the top corner. I don’t see a problem with the sharpening, saturation, etc. as it is.
