Foggy Morning Flight Crew

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Image: Foggy Morning Flight Crew

Description: I was searching for water birds early last December at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Southern California when I noticed this landscape opportunity. Suddenly some small flocks of Dowitchers cut across the scene. I was already set up for birds, so I just hit the sequential shooting. One shot caught the birds as silhouettes against the fog bank, slightly soft, I suspect because the autofocus was reading the reeds in the foreground. Because of all the moisture in the air, I had to punch up the background layers of hills and mountains.

Foggy Morning Flight Crew
Foggy Morning Flight Crew3000Ă—1321 1.15 MB

Specific Feedback Requested: Would be interested in knowing whether others feel this is a marketable shot, given that the birds aren’t sharp, and whether the pano crop is the best way to frame this.

Pertinent technical details or techniques: Olympus EM1MarkII with 40-150 PRO lens, 1/2000th, ISO 400, F4.5,

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Hi, James. The layers in your photo are so strong and beautiful. You were able to capture so much and with such depth. Having the birds taking off was the extra bonus for this beautiful scene you captured. I think two things would make this a more marketable photo, but I’m not sure both can be done. The first is the reeds sharpness you mentioned. That could be softened a little, including some desaturation. It would create a more pleasing tonal balance with the background colors. The other suggestion is one that may not have a solution. The tree on the right side keeps competing with the birds and presents some unbalance in the image. I think that is happening because there is no open space on the left side where the birds are flying to. The tree is great in the overall composition but my wish would be for more breathing room for the birds.

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Thank you Egidio – I will dig into my files and find the original, uncropped photos and see if I can reframe as you suggest, as well as re-check my treatment of the color layers, particularly the reeds. I had seen the tree as a balancing element but if it pulls your eye to the right, perhaps it can go.
– Jim Hendon

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Jim, I really like the tree. Perhaps that is why I keep going back to it. If you can add more room on the left side of the frame, I think it’d be perfect. I’d hate to see the tree go, though. Sorry if my comments gave the impression I was suggesting cropping the tree of your composition.

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Thanks Eglidio – no problem. My mistake.

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This is a very nice, layered landscape, James! For me, the birds add some interest and life to the landscape but I don’t see them as the main event in this scene. Consequently, since the direction the birds are flying isn’t really important, I think your composition is just right as is.

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Thanks Gary — I like layered landscapes. Something about the horizontal bands of color draws my eye. Are you a landscape shooter or a wildlife guy ? Where are you located?

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James; I shoot landscapes, nature & lots of wildlife, all of which are very plentiful in and around Valdez, Alaska where I live. You can find plenty of samples on this site or you can Google “Gary Minish Photo Gallery” and pick the top selection. There are a lot of photos so you might want to use the categories at the top of the page.

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What a great location Gary.
The book Going to Extremes by Joe McGinnis includes a story about a man who was blinded by a bear. He lived in Seattle but was living in Alaska when the attack happened. Asked why he moved to Seattle, the man said he could not imagine continuing to live there if he couldn’t see it.