On March 25, the clouds were supposed to break-up and give us a nice sunny day. Well, they cleared around 10 AM as I was driving home. This Osprey was one of the few early returning birds on the 25th.
The photo is close to a 70% crop. When the Osprey would take this look down for breakfast, I fired off a few shots and was hopping there was enough light to make-up for the crop. That didn’t work out, so I exported into Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 3 after I adjusting the exposure, shadows, and contrast and DXO’s DeepPrime.
What do you think?
Thank you for stopping by.
Peter
Specific Feedback Requested
any
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon R%, Canon 100-500mm & 1.4 ext, f10, 700mm, 1/2000, ISO 1600.
I like this a lot. The black and white conversion works well for the subject. I like the pose with the head looking down and the spread of the wings and tail. Great job.
The pose is great, and between that and the monochrome conversion, the nice patterns in the feathers are rightfully in the spotlight.
I agree with Kristen about lightening it up. I’d be tempted to try something even more high key than what she presented as a way to really make the shape and patterns pop.
And because this image really is about the shape and symmetry of the pose, I think the osprey should be centered. Currently, you have extra space on top and the right, which throws the balance off. Similar distance between the centered subject and each side—plus similar distance between the bird and top and bottom—will help the eye zoom right in on the subject without getting tugged another way.
The pose and head turn are wonderful, Peter. I like the hi-key idea and the B&W conversion works quite well. I do think it would work better higher in the frame, perhaps high enough that there’s more room below than above.
The symmetry here is really nice. It makes the image work well. The head turn is superb. I do like the changes that were made and suggested by several others. Nice job!
Hi
I thank you all for the comments. Here is a repost, that takes in all the comments. The final crop work out to be 2183 by 1525 out of 8192 by 5464.
Peter
Hi Peter, this was a very nice shot to begin with and must say I like the improvements and reasoning behind them. Loving all the patterns in the feathers so B&W was a good choice too.
