The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
The wing position and the open beak as well its poised position - getting ready to fish
Creative direction
Nature image - no creative thoughts - just expressing the facts
Specific Feedback
Do the edges look acceptable or does it need some feathering
Sharp enough ?
Anything that others may point out
Technical Details
1/1250 secs ( a little faster would probably help ), f 5.6, iso 3200
I was playing around in PS - selected subject and practised some refining - then outputted to a new layer. I then decreased the exposure 0-3 stops to let the subject stand out better
Some will argue that this can be done in LR now - I agree - but it is perhaps a little more precise.
Besides, the practice will help when dealing with treeline exposures
Description
My goal was to try capturing a dive - no 3D then - but hopefully sometime soon with the Z9
That is such an unusual pose you caught. Great job with timing it. Yeah, faster would have probably frozen it a bit better, but I can still see enough detail that it doesn’t really matter since the image is so exciting. The whites look a bit hot on my screen and I think the whole image is a bit on the cool side, but that’s just my taste on wb. The masking (I think that’s what you’re referring to playing with) looks good to me and I agree that it is still a more precise process in Ps in terms of being able to refine a mask. If Lr gets it right and you don’t need to tweak, you can do this there, too.
This is an awesome pose, Karl. To me it looks more like it’s arguing with another bird than getting ready to dive, but you saw the whole sequence. I can see some areas on the neck that look like they might be hot-a problem with this species for some reason. I suspect the feather detail there is very fine as well as being very white. I love the varied background.
As for the selection, it looks fine. I tend to use the select subject tool, but I almost always have to refine it, particularly in v-shaped areas like where the wing joins the body or between feathers. The software always wants to use a radius there instead of letting the selection come to a point and I haven’t found a way to change that setting. If the adjustments are minimal on the subject and/or background it’s not a big deal, but if I’m changing exposure very much or applying a curves layer, it tends to show up.
Hi Karl, great pose you have captured - love the upward wings and open beak. Very pleasing BG and nice to see the bird on the tip top of the perch. The eye and head seem a tad soft to me - looks like the critical focus may have been on the body of the bird or the perch. Or maybe it’s just motion blur. Still, a fine capture of a very difficult subject to get in the frame.
