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
What I feel is successful: I like the texture created by the wing motion, the contrast between light and dark, and the fact that I was able to more or less capture the bird’s face.
What could be improved: It would be nice if there was more space on the right, but there wasn’t, and I don’t really want to fake it. I’d appreciate any other feedback!
Creative direction
I wanted to capture motion.
Specific Feedback
Any feedback would be welcome!
I loved the effects created by panning the birds, and would appreciate any tips. I kept shutter speed to about 1/8-1/15 sec and tried to capture the birds as they were flying against relatively dark backgrounds or just the lake. I used continuous autofocus + bird detection + ND filter & turned off image stabilization.
I didn’t use the burst mode–I feel like it doesn’t work well when panning, but I’m not sure.
Technical Details
Fuji X-T5
Fuji XF 150-600mm, shot at 520 mm
1/15 sec, f/8, ISO 400
ND filter
Panning
DxO Photolab + a little bit of sharpening with Topaz + Nik Color Efex + Photoshop
Description
I was inspired by a webinar on this site by Jiri Hrebicek. I started listening yesterday and went to a nature reserve today to practice his ideas by panning gulls. I love the abstract and semi-abstract patterns created by the flying birds.
This is lovely, Canan. What a successful experiment. I love the motion in the wings, the way it feels like a studder, or like a kind of dream, while the head of the gull stays still and largely undistorted. It’s very angelic looking (I think it’s the crisp white, the wing motion, and the background).
I’ll be curious to see what others say regarding the placement of the bird in the frame. To me, it looks about perfect. There is more to the right than the left, so the gull has some room to fly, but it still feels like there is a constraint, a kind of floating feeling in the frame.
I think this came out quite well, Canan. The placement in the frame works for me, though I might be tempted to take a bit off the top, but that’s probably just me. You might consider a slight border or stroke around the edge. I view the site in dark mode and the dark background blends into the screen making it difficult to tell where the boundaries are.
Gulls are great for panning practice as they often soar in a more or less straight line. I do tend to use burst mode for almost all bird photography and don’t find that it doesn’t work well with panning, but I use a different camera system.
Thanks, Dennis. I’ll see how it looks with more cropping from the top. And good advice about the framing! Yes, gulls are great, not just for practice but in and of themselves, too. And I’ll give the burst mode another chance next time I go there. Thank you
FWIW, I considered recommending a slight crop from
the top also. I wasn’t convinced confident, but I use the light mode on this site, so that was in the context of knowing where the frame ended,
ML
Canan, the mystical sense of flying looks great, especially with the relatively clear look at the bird’s head. I also like that there’s some texture in the background. I’m thinking that a square or maybe 4x5 crop would tell the same story with less dark space.
Very successful experiment capturing motion. I especially like the strobe-like effect of the wings that you got with a slow shutter and panning. I think you are right that a little more space on the right would add to the image but it is very good as is. I think I know how you feel about adding space to the right, but in this case the background is negative space so, I might be tempted to add a little generative fill. The fill might be useful if you were to print it, and I think it should be on a wall.
Thank you for the feedback. Yes, AI in Photoshop is full of temptations, and I’ve already given in to some, even though the AI industry as a whole goes against all my values.
And thanks about the comment about the print! As it happens, I spent the last few months finding a printer and learning all about color calibration and how to print and what to print on, and have only very recently figured it all (mostly) out. So I can now just follow your suggestion and put it on my wall
This is one of those images that makes you study it, Canan, as at first I couldn’t make out the head. But once I did, I could then concentrate on the nice wing blur/motion. Very well done.
