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Questions to guide your feedback
What is your initial emotional and intellectual response to this image?
Does it tell a story?
Is the tree too contrasty?
Other Information
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Image Description
I was taking shots of different spots along a river yesterday when I decided to take a moment to look around and take in the area more. I noticed this tree and this eagle and decided to try to capture a shot of it. I had a 600 mm lens but it was not enough to get a super close up shot of the eagle, and the snow made it hard too. Instead I decided to shoot the tree as a whole with the eagle as an additional story telling element to the photo.
Critique Template
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My first reaction to seeing this is what the heck were you doing out in those conditions shooting birds??? LOL Just kidding. My first reaction is that this looks cold. I love the blowing snow in the larger view and the determined feeling I get from the eagle not to freeze to death. Great job getting a sharp image with the blowing snow. Focus usually locks on the moving snow making it difficult to capture details like this without resorting to manual focus.
I don’t find the tree to be too contrasty. It makes the image pop. Without it, you’d have a very flat and likely uninteresting image. The two trees at the bottom of the image pull my eyes though. I understand they are more contrasty than the tree and hills behind it because they are closer but I would dial the contrast back in those two trees. Just lift the shadows and the blacks and that should help. Maybe reduce the greens a little bit. I guess the only other thing I notice is that the tree trunk is dead center and you have the eagle looking out to the left. Usually, I’d like to see more room for the bird to look into but honestly, I think it works in this image. The tree being dead center provides good symmetry for the image. You did a great job capturing this image in difficult circumstances. Well done, Bryant!
Haha I wasn’t planning on photographing the bird till I saw it. I didn’t even notice the 2 trees at the bottom but after you pointed them out I totally agree with what you said. I dialed the contrast down a little bit and I think it works a bit better. Hopefully they don’t catch the eye too much anymore. And ya I would have liked the bird to face the other direction, but I felt I definitely needed the tree in the center for balance. I’m glad you like the image overall though! Thanks for the feedback!
“Cold” - and a very nice image !
I also would like more room on the left, so the tree is not dead center, and the eagle has room to “look into.”
“Balance” can be a little boring, so the tree off-center would add some interest. I also leveled the tree to horizontal - it was a few degrees off.
Thanks for the input. I took a look at it again and realized i had more room on the left side than i initially remembered. I also took a look and edited a horizontal shot of the same tree. Do these look better?
Excellent environmental image of the eagle, Bryant. First impression-yes it’s cold out here! Since you asked specifically about the tree, the center of it with that warm colored trunk tends to anchor my eye, so I’d be tempted to wash it out a bit. Other than that, I love the composition. I do also like your horizontal shot, though I’d trim a bit off the right to just inside that foreground rock on the edge of the near slope.
The image captures the frigid conditions very well, Bryant. The lower saturation definitely helps convey the atmosphere well. The composition looks just a little off - Sandy Richard-Brown’s version makes it more balanced. I prefer the vertical composition in your repost.
I like your vertical repost with a bit more room for the eagle to look into. Definitely tells a story and the eagle, though not prominent, introduces a focal point for the story.