I had just arrived at my favorite hike looking for any sign of the turkey vultures that live around there when I spotted a group of Turkey Vultures and their ‘guest’a Black Vulture, flying and swooping down by the river bank. I scrambled down the embankment and came up close to the trees that grew along the river and saw they were feeding on a carcass that might have washed up on the bank of the river. It was such a thrill to be so close to these magnificent birds. They were so cooperative and peaceful, taking turns feeding and then would rest in the trees. I felt honored that they didn’t mind my presence.
Specific Feedback Requested
I really love to photograph wildlife and animals in general but wanted to know if a photo like this could be considered landscape photography? Also it was a gray/dark late winter afternoon and I would like to know if there’s anything that I could have done better with my settings. I want to be able to make an image with my camera and not rely on post processing. Note: I’m not very good at post-processing!
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
ISO 1000
300mm
f/6.3
1/1000
Nikon 3400
No processing except for converting to jpg from raw and making the file smaller per instructions.
Welcome to NPN, Vanessa. I am relatively new here myself, and this community has been incredibly helpful in, not only there critiques, but also their encouraging words. I hope you will continue your photographic quest and continue to post here at NPN. As far as the image goes, if it were mine, I would crop out the brighter left side to help focus on the bird and the bare branches. Also, perhaps use some clarity adjustment, again to help focus on the bird. I am sure others here will have more specific suggestions. I look forward to seeing more of your photos here at NPN>
Thank you, Linda!
Is a clarity adjustment something you do in post processing? I have Pixelmator photo. The only things I’ve ever done with it are the basic adjustments like exposure, shadows, highlights…or make a black and white, and cropping, I do a lot of cropping! I just found a sharpen tool. What do you think of this?..
Welcome, Vanessa. I tend to like this kind of image and I think the repost works pretty well. I’m afraid, if you’re going to continue your photographic journey a bit more sophisticated post processing will be in order, but you can work that in at your own speed. I don’t know if you software has a cloning, spot removal or rubber stamp feature, but if it does, I think the tiny bit of rock in the lower right corner could be replaced with the out of focus trees right beside it. I like the light and the winter bareness of the image.
Wow! Thanks, Dennis, I didn’t even notice that! I do have a repair feature which sometimes makes things worse so I don’t use it but how does it look now?..,
Vanessa, welcome to NPN. This view of a black vulture looks good, with the bird nicely black but holding good detail. The starkness of the branches fits well with the bird while the background adds tells about the location and clarifies the season. While this view works well as presented, it could also be cropped (as Dennis has done), from the left and either top or bottom, to let the bird be more prominent while losing nothing in terms of the story telling. Adobe software includes a “Clarity” adjustment. There’s almost certainly a way to do it in your software. Do an internet search to see how.
Hi Mark, thanks for the welcome! Actually I’m the one who cropped it and reposted it as Linda Mellor suggested, she also suggested clarity which I did some adjustments with a sharpen tool. And then Dennis suggested repairing a rock, which I also did in the final post. I will look and see if there is some clarity tool, and also find out what that actually means! Thank you for your time and interest!
Vanessa, the final version looks very good. It keeps all of the “information”, while letting the vulture be more prominent. BTW, in terms of maximizing your growth as a photographer/artist, it’s important to develop your own vision, which may be different from other folks.
