The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Still picking through yesterday’s frames and found another one I like. This is another inadvertent focus stack, with 2 adjacent frames on burst mode. One had almost everything as sharp as I could hope for, except the far wings. The previous frame had those wings sharp with virtually no movement between frames. It was easy to stack the two layers and hand mask.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome! I felt this was leaning toward a color cast but it was shot on Daylight WB, in bright sun. Attempts to tweak WB to bring out more separation of the subject and BG didn’t work well so I left it as shot.
Technical Details
This one is full frame as shot with a very small bit added to the top. Highlights and Shadows globally in LR, into PS for Topaz Denoise (barely noticeable at this size but I like the very slight sharpening) and composite the wingtips.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Beautiful. Love everything about it; especially the background and the wonderful colors. Nit (very , very small): is that a dust spot near the reed and lower right wing? Fantastic shot!
Thanks, @Jim_Gavin and @SandyR-B! Jim, I have no excuse for missing that one – and there are two others, slightly more diffuse. Consider them gone!
I did a sensor check a couple of days ago and then neglected to refer to it! That check did make me clean the back element of the TC. With the narrower gap in mirrorless bodies, dust on the back of the lens, or especially a TC, shows up as more diffuse spots and smears. Those are easy to clean. I hate to even say it, for fear of jinxing things, but I have had the R5 body for 3.5 years and I have never had to clean the sensor! With my DSLRs, wet cleaning was an almost weekly chore. I have 3 spots which have been there for a while and may be glued on by now – I shouldn’t have let them go. But it’s so easy to clean them after the fact these days. If I remember…
A real beauty, Diane. I really like your inadvertent stacks. It’s always a good idea to save some adjacent frames for those circumstances-at least until your favorite is processed. I do find the highlights on the bend of the reed just a bit distracting, but a very fine image of this beauty.
Thanks, @Dennis_Plank! You should have seen that highlight in the raw file, even after pulling Highlights way down. Then I did what I could with Nik Viveza, which is still one of my go-to tools for burning highlights. A also used it to darken the reed as it left the frame.
Amazing shot, Diane. I do not think the color cast is showing too much here because the color of the subject stands out well. The angle of the stick was good. There is a white OOF area that has a sharp edge which could be a distraction right in front and below the head. One by the top wing but not really an issue. The subject stands out well, just that white half circle sticks out some.
Thanks, @Shirley_Freeman, @Dean_Salman and @Bill_Fach! Dean, I had decided not to bother with the specular highlights here simply because they were horrible in many of the other shots that day – not a good reason! But what had been bugging me about this was the amount of red in the BG – it is some sort of water plant that I’ve never seen so pervasive there. So I decided to try some careful Selective Color in the BG to mute it and while I was at it I softened the specular highlights. Thanks for the nudge! I like this version better – posted above.
Thanks, @Dennis_Plank, @Shirley_Freeman and @Kris_Smith! You’d think shooting dragonflies wouldn’t be a physically challenging sport, but next time out I’ll try to remember to get a shot of the path. It’s almost as wide as my foot and very uneven, with tufts of tough grass making hillocks on both sides, a steep muddy downslope to the water and a steep slippery cut deadgrass upslope away from the water. A faceplant would be ugly. I’ve started using the monopod as there are very limited ways to plant a tripod and no time to move it to follow action. (And my word choices betray the fact that I’m reading Cormack McCarthy again. His use of language is hypnotic.)
