Gambel's Quail

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Gambel's Quail
Gambel's Quail2000×1555 802 KB

The sentinel at his post. Flock below and his job is sound the warning in any threat. Liked the pose.

Specific Feedback Requested

Noted some bits of red and green in the feathers around the neck an upper back. I used LR and the new masking tools. I did see them before editing , but not as obvious.so am not sure if they have a bit of color or something I added in processing. I didn’t find them distracting and only really obvious on enlargement.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Canon EOS R6, Canon RF 100-500, 1/800 sec, ISO 1250, 500mm, f/7.1. Hand held.

all comments appreciated.

4 Likes
2

@Charlie_Chaffee This is a very nice image. The perch (and curvature of it) are a nice compliment to the quail. Nice details on the bird and perch.

There are some pretty obvious artifacts from an attempt at softening the background. The top left of the perch is the most noticeable. I don’t mind the concept, and have encouraged it when used effectively. Any processing artifacts that are obvious and visible are certainly not desireable.

3

Gambel's Quail6
Gambel's Quail62000×1600 916 KB

Thanks. Obviously a bit heavy handed. I re did this and hopefully there are no obvious blips.
Your feed back is always appropriate and is appreciated.

4

Very nice look at the quail. I like the pose and the perch and how the two seem to fit together. Well done.

5

The repost is much better. What a catch. Quail are so cute, but this one looks nearly regal. What a good pose, even the legs are spaced nicely. The details in the plumage are remarkable. I have never studied one so closely. Thanks for sharing.

One thing that I’ve used effectively to blur backgrounds is Content Aware Fill - you select subject, expand the selection by about 3 pixels and remove it entirely from the layer. What gets filled in the background with CAF isn’t as important as that selection expansion. When you add the bird back on a new layer after you’ve applied your blur, it will blend quite nicely. It’s fiddly, but works well. Just FYI. I think I even started a thread about it around here somewhere.

6

I like the revised capture a lot. Great subject matter, and the added “meat” on the left is an improvement too. Super shot.

7

Thanks for the feedback. Always helpful.

8

Great bird, perch and pose. I guess that’s iridescence on the plumage (?). I prefer the less bright background in your first version. Super catch, Charlie.

9

Nice RP, but I agree with @Mike_Friel about the brighter BG. Just lowering saturation for yellows would likely equalize it to the first post. I would consider some low-opacity cloning to further soften the dark details in the UR.

10

Nice job on the repost. I do agree with Diane and Mike about the background. I think you could even crop just under 5% off the top.

11

Thanks. As always, helpful and informative.