The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This was amazing. This Barred owlet was right on the side of the trail at about head height. I was with a few other people and although one of the parents was nearby at the top of another tree, this youngster was very calm in the face of all our oohing and ahhing. This is barely cropped. It was 15 feet from me and after a few minutes, gave me this direct gaze. It’s one of the only shots I have that looks so pointedly in my direction. So happy I brought my medium telephoto so that I didn’t have to encroach on its space more.
Specific Feedback
So it’s backlit, but I think I pulled up enough in the face to make this have some more immediacy. Crop ok? It isn’t cropped much, but I wanted to eliminate some dark branches, but I thought having the whole of the small maple by it made a nice frame.
Technical Details
handheld while trying not to flip out at its cuteness and nearness.
Lr for all processing including some masking work to even out the luminosity and bring some clarity to the face where the focus is crispest (thank goodness for focus peaking). A crop and some sharpening.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
The crop works for me, Kris, though I’m not that fond of the large tree trunk on the left-it gives the illusion that the frame ends at its right edge. The Owlet looks good. To me, this looks like it would have been a prefect scene for exposure bracketing as I think the backlit parts of the maple leaves could stand to be a lot brighter and it would make it easier to handle the owlet. Brightening the maple leaves would help alleviate the trunk on the left since they partly overlap it and would make the viewer’s eye go to them first and then find the owlet, which I think might make a more interesting image.
Thanks @Dennis_Plank - exposure bracketing was the last thing on my mind honestly, but I see your point. Moving in any direction blocked the owl’s face with the leaves so I didn’t do that and switching to the other side, hoping it would track me was a hopeless cause as well. So I re-cropped it and took up some of the whites. Not sure if it works better or not.
I like the way the second crop reduces the effect of the tree in the background, Kris, and I figured there wasn’t anywhere you could move to prevent obscuring the owlet or losing the head-on look. I know you wanted to keep that entire maple branch, but how about a tighter crop? Maybe something like this?
In addition to the crop, I used a TK color mask to try brightening the backlit part of the leaves, but that brought up some of the brighter parts of the background, so I burned those areas a trifle, then I selected the bird and used a curves layer to bring up the shadows and control the highlights a bit. I don’t know if this fits your vision at all, but it’s probably where I’d go with the image. Though I’d probably do it differently if I had the raw image.
Kris. This is a really nice shot of the owlet. I love your story and it must have been a thrill to be so close and get to observe it for a while. I do like @Dennis_Plank’s recommendations for crop and burning back some of the bright spots to get a better look at the baby.
Thanks @David_Schoen, @Allen_Brooks & @Ed_Williams for chiming in as well. Yeah, not the best light, but a cooperative subject within easy reach. Plus baby owl! So fluffy and sleepy. I have a couple video clips of it just blinking at us while the leaves blow around in the breeze. It’s pretty soothing.
Just found this – what a wonderful opportunity!! I love the final (top) image. The look is so compelling, and the foliage is a gorgeous frame. I love the soft focus of the BG. You might consider a slight cooling of the WB but not a big deal. A quick-masked curves could bring a little more light on the face. (Paint it with a soft brush in a sort of U shape to cover the eyes.)
With the newer cameras and NR software, I usually find exposure bracketing (even in LR where I get a raw DNG with full tonal overhead to work with) is not as good as tweaking the middle exposure. I did a bunch of brackets of funky subjects in the harsh light at Bodie and on quick review I had better results with the middle exposure. But I’ll play with them more now that I’m home on the big monitor and somewhat sleep-recovered. (Somewhat.)
Thanks @Diane_Miller - it was a real surprise and so much fun. All the folks I was with were very respectful and awed with this floofy baby, so it was a relaxing experience and I was so happy to have it. Not sure I’d have noticed it if I’d been alone since I so often have my eyes on the ground looking for tiny things.
Right about being plenty of room to bring up shadows with newer cameras. I’ve got a crap ton in this one, but even my old G9 does remarkably well. These days I use both of them in the kayak so I don’t have to change lenses as often and the IQ is remarkably similar even though the new model has a brand new sensor, etc.
