Sometimes doing things wrong is good. In this image of a osprey catching a fish I was too slow with the camera so the settings are ”wrong” leading to a very underexposed image. However I really like the dramatic effect this gives. For me it makes the image more than ”just” a documentation of the species, it adds to it. So I am happy that I messed up the exposure this time.
Specific Feedback Requested
All feed-back is very welcome!
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 640, 360 mm
A very nice image. I think the exposure looks great. I don’t know what you had to do in post, but you talk about having the wrong settings. This is a perfect example of why I always shoot birds in flight in manual exposure. The exposure on the osprey looks great which is the only thing in the image that the proper exposure matters on. Had you been in aperture priority mode, the osprey would have been totally blown.
An outstanding image in my opinion. Getting the Osprey coming towards you with the fish, the lighting on the Osprey, the water action, the nice detail makes for an exceptional photo. Well done.
The dark water is a dramatic setting for this perfectly-captured action! The exposure on the bird looks good, with some apparently blown highlight on the head so I’m not sure you had any leeway to expose or adjust brighter.
This could be one to try the TK linear profile on (see a Discussion thread), if there is one for your camera. It might allow reaching more into the shadows, for comparison, but that’s not to imply and criticism of this very dramatic capture.
A very dramatic image, Johan. You caught the Osprey perfectly and as Keith mentioned, that’s all that counts, particularly with this kind of action. The dark almost black and white waves and splashes really set the bird off well.
thanks a lot for your comment Keith. The image was more or less “black frame” in Lightroom but I could recover some shadows and since the osprey has such a light coloring it came out of the background. I am happy you liked the image!
thanks a lot for your comment Diana. The image was more or less a “black frame” in Lightroom so no part id blown out. I recovered the shadows as best I could and the I made the bright part of the bird brighter by increasing the whites until they were blown and then backed down from that. So I can easily reduce the brightness of the bird. I will try to pull the whites down a bit more!
thanks for your comment Dennis. I agree that the dark surrounding makes the image more dramatic and in my view better. Although it was not really that dark when I took the image…
Stunning image you have on your hands here ! The water droplets come out very nicely against the dark BG. Prey, eye contact, action: what more could one wish for? Congrats ! Cheers, Hans
This is a killer shot of this Osprey & fish, Johan! Always better to be under-exposed than over-exposed in my opinion. That leaves you many more options in post processing. You did a great job of using those options to maximize the impact of this scene. The whites are not blown and there is plenty of detail in the dark feathers. The dark background definitely adds to the drama of the scene! A great capture and excellent work! Well done
