While hiking to find images for a project, showing the lasting damage and gradual recovery of a burned area of the Sonoran desert, I heard a solitary quail calling and tracked the call to this lone male Gambel’s quail. The emptiness of the limb below his perch was a striking contrast to the crowding often found when large family coveys are present.
Feedback Requests
Impact of image as it represents the impact of the fire on the damaged desert landscape.
Composition. It is cropped to exclude other desert flora.
Choice of monochrome.
Anything else
Pertinent Technical Details
Nikon D850, Nikon 70-200mm f/4 lens
122mm, 1/125 sec, f/16, ISO 9000 (shot at dusk)
Cropped, edited and enhanced, to decrease ISO noise, in LRC, some small branches removed along the upper edge and one below the empty limb that reached over to the lower saguaro.
Hi, Marlin - the monochrome is perfect here. The lines and shapes, shading of the wood and framing of the distant cactus are all excellent. I like the largest bunch of small twigs in the upper right, but might clone out the bits of twigs further right.
I’d suggest more room on the left so the cactus isn’t so close to the edge. If you have more room on right, extending the edge a bit to off-center that far cactus might be good.
Love this image! Great eye to have seen it!
@SandyR-B , Thank you for the comments and suggestions. I have tried to open up the image on both sides, along with a bit more selective trimming. I like the more open feel. I feel that removing more of the clutter in the branches on the right takes away from the story of what the wildfire leaves behind. Will try to repost with changes.
Marlin, your story telling looks good here with the lone quail and his damaged perch. I’d suggest something between your two posts. The extra room for the Saguaro on the left is important, but I like the cut off sense of the burned shrub and especially the position of the quail in the original post. I also like the burned branch arching across the lower center.
Thank you both, @SandyR-B and @Mark_Seaver. I tried several smaller adjustments in the crop and I like this last version, a combination of both suggestions, That empty space above the burned lower center branch, for me, is the story of this image and why this image fits into this category. Again thanks for the comments and suggestions.
You’ve captured the essence of the story. The aftermath of the wildfires is both intense and heart-wrenching, especially when nature’s inhabitants begin to reappear. The depth of field captures the expanse of the scene, with the lone quail echoing the silence. Well done.
Marlin: Too bad this wasn’t a dove instead of a quail . This is really well seen and composed IMO and conveys your message very well. I like your first repost best. I’m not a fan of the small branch exiting the frame on the right on your second repost. My only tiny suggestion would be to make the small twigs entering the frame on the top near the main branch go away. It’s trivial but my eye went there immediately. Overall a superb effort and result. >=))>
@christopher10 , Thank you. This project isn’t completed. There have been newer fires in the area, so I still have work to do. I do think this image goes along way toward telling the story just by itself. Thanks again.
Thank you @Bill_Fach . I almost titled this Lonesome Quail, but couldn’t quite go there. Seemed irreverent. I will see what I can do with the twigs/debris as well. I have done some “trimming” already and didn’t want to tidy it up too much. It was a messy scene givent he damage to the landscape and I want o still honor that. I have to admit it s cleaner. I tried cropping them out, but that puls the quail to close to the edge. Thanks for taking the time to work on this as well.
. This is really well seen and composed IMO and conveys your message very well. I like your first repost best. I’m not a fan of the small branch exiting the frame on the right on your second repost. My only tiny suggestion would be to make the small twigs entering the frame on the top near the main branch go away. It’s trivial but my eye went there immediately. Overall a superb effort and result. >=))>