The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
A few weeks back I posted a photo of an adult plover, a species that is imperiled throughout its range. The chicks are now hatched and growing up, and their success is a testament to dedicated people protecting their habitat. Suggestions on the earlier post included getting down to ground level and sitting still for a while to see what would happen. I did those things and I also bought a new lens!
Feedback Requested
I hope this image conveys a little bit of the wonder that a baby has when encountering a whole new world. The little chick is almost centered in the frame, which I like. Would you have cropped differently? Is the background seaweed and detritus interesting or distracting? Anything else?
Great photo! I love the way you framed the chick. The low POV is very nice. Overall I’m good with the background except for maybe the red debris. Very cute!
Hi Elizabeth, what a cute puff ball! great low perspective. The bird seems to have a tad bit more room in front which works for me. The “classic” shorebird image would have a blurred out background but I can appreciate this showing what the bird actually lives in. Always great to see healthy newborns.
Hello Elizabeth, what a great shot. I love the very low angle and the sharp detail on the chick. The background could maybe use a bit of blurring and downplaying the red parts but it is where the chick lives, I would probably leave it as is. Nice light on the chick’s face as well.
Elizabeth, this view does a great job of showing off how small and delicate newly fledged chicks are. It’s “puffball” nature and size contrast very well with the debris behind. For me, showing both the chick and it’s environment do just what the challenge asked for…tell a story.
Late to the party again. I like your rework without so much red in the BG. I am finding a new passion for placing birds in their habitat. I like it a lot.
There is a new button where you can place a revised version of the OP. It makes it easier to compare the OP and the revised.
A very sweet little baby!! Another idea to downplay the BG but still tell the story is to select the subject, inverse the selection and reduce contrast. It’s the bright parts of the BG that are providing the most distraction.
Lovely image. I agree with the red removed very close to the bird - have you thought about leaving some a bit further left. As long as it’s a bit desaturated it may make the background a little less uniform. It also brings out the colour of the chick’s legs. If you do leave the red out maybe a tighter crop?
Elizabeth: Great POV and aren’t almost all babies just the cutest things? Your revision is a nice improvement on an already fine image. Nicely done. >=))>
Apologies that I can never remember what processing tools people use and their comfort levels with them. But I’ll toss out a quick example in PS. There are now some good selection tools in LR but I will usually go to PS where I can work in layers for editing flexibility.
First, I would go to the top menu and choose Window > Workspace > Photography. (Should remain sticky.) Then drag the windows to your liking – I keep them all pushed together as in the screenshot below. The first one should be Layers, then I would put Histogram then History. Add others as you find you use them.
I started with the original above and did Select > Subject. Then I hit the Q key to see the selection as a red mask to see if it looked good. (Perfect edges not needed for the small adjustment here.) Then Q key again to go back to the selection. The Select > Inverse.
Then in the bottom center of the Layers panel I choose Brightness and Contrast and pull contrast all the way down, then brightness down just a bit. You now have an adjustment layer that you can tweak later if desired. This is not the best way to do this, but it’s a good learning step for PS and needs minimal selection work.
If you use LR you can mask for the subject and check Invert, or maybe masking for the BG will work, note any areas that are not well-selected for later work, un-check show overlay and now adjust the tonal sliders to reduce the brightest pieces in the BG. I find selecting in PS to be more accurate but things like this are improving rapidly.
Best of luck with adding to your toolkit! Feel free to ask questions!
EDIT: here’s the screenshot I forgot to add. If the sand feels too dark you can brush across the mask with a white brush, maybe set to 50% opacity, to tweak it.
Diane, you are so generous to walk me through this! I am truly an amateur with these tools and I really appreciate the tutorial. I will give it a try! Thank you.
