Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is from our local reach. I finally got one bird to cooperate with a flight shot here. All the other birds were down at the water/surf line. This curlew was up the beach a bit further, but decided I got a bit too close and took off to join the others. It flew very low and pretty slow right over the sand.
Specific Feedback
Repost is after Topaz Denoise and sharpening. Unfortunately the curlew was angling away from me and every frame I got in focus had the wing covering the head except this one.
Technical Details
Canon 7DMii, f8, 1/5000 sec, iso 400, -0.7 EV, 100-400/1.4TC at 560 mm, Aperture and iso pre-set.
1 Like
Hi Ed, I like the shadow you included with the bird and being able to see the bird’s head/eye even in moving away from us. While the techs look good to me for exposure and inflight capture, the bird is soft which makes me wonder if the autofocus points were catching something else or if the focus was just pulsing at the time.
The sharpening you added in the repost does help a good bit.
1 Like
Ed, the low flight makes for a great shadow. I like the way the bird is looking over its “shoulder” at you. The range of colors is attractive. The position of the bird and the shadow in the frame strengthen the composition. @Allen_Sparks has commented on the soft focus, so I won’t say more. Thanks for sharing this great shot with us.
A nice shot, Ed, and the repost made a significant improvement. Unfortunately, the birds always seem to be flying away from us, but all you can do is be persistent. How much tidal variation do you have? We’re luck enough to have a fairly significant one at times and with the tide coming in and early morning light it can make magic. The shorebirds get forced in by the tide and you just wait for them to come to you.
Thank you @Allen_Sparks, @Barbara_Djordjevic, and @Dennis_Plank, I ran it through topaz and sharpened it up a bit more. It seems to have helped some. Dennis, right now we have about a six foot swing from high to low tides. Our beach is about a hundred or so yards wide, so the birds still have lots of room to roam.
Repost looks good. The head turn towards the viewer makes up for it flying away. Nice capture.
1 Like
nice shot. Great to be able to see one of these locally. I agree with some of the suggestions made by other reviewers.
1 Like
Thank you very much @Allen_Brooks and @David_Schoen. I appreciate your comments on this.
