Original
Original
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Red Tail Hawks are usually very skittish and take flight on the approach of a human. This bird which is a juvenile RTH was very comfortable in my presence. It sat on the branch for quite a while before deciding to leave. Fortunately and very unusually, it took off towards me allowing me to take these head on photos.
In the first photo I took a twitch by the bird as a sign it would take off and held the shutter in until I could no longer follow it. In the second photo, I think I know where the Air Force got its design for the B-2 bomber.
In both I was pleased to be able to see the bird’s eyes. The images were cropped to about 90% of original size and processed in LR.
Specific Feedback
There’s always the decision to make about removing objects. In the first photo I did remove a small branch that appeared behind the bird’s right wing because it was sharp and in focus. In the second photo I left the branches in as they were more out of focus. What do you think of this approach? In the sec ond photo, some of the branches have taken on a bluish cast. How best to remove that? Thanks, Richard
Technical Details
1/3200 at f/8 and Auto ISO.
RePost
RePost
Cool take-off images, Richard. I really like the energy of the first and the straight on face-to-face look in the second always makes for an exciting image. The blue of the sky looks slightly off to me though there are occasional skies this blue and I’m in a wet area where we just don’t get intense skies. I’m not sure, but I think the blue in the branches in the second is just because they’re out of focus and blending a bit with the background.
Wonderful captures!! Sky color looks believable to me, living about halfway in between you and @Dennis_Plank, although a slight warming could give the hawk a bit more punch. I think Dennis has the bluish appearance of the branches pegged. A slight lowering of blue saturation might fix it. Wonderful sharpness and detail in the face, especially on the second one!
Hi Richard, very engaging take off shots. The wing position in the first image is quite nice and the second gives us the sense of freedom of flight. If mine, I’d see what desaturating a tad the sky looks like. Well captured images.
Great take off catches, Richard. Nicely done. The sky is a bit electric blue…I love the eye contact on the first image.
Dennis, Diane, Allan and David: thanks to all for your comments. They are appreciated. I’m not sure how to go about adding a re-post under the original image. Is there an area on the site that offers an explanaation?
It’s obvious that I’ll have to invite you all to Colorado to see the blue skies of the high desert we’re in. 
Richard
@Richard_Sandor
To do a repost, simply go to the bottom of your original post (above any comments) and click on the pencil icon in the toolbar you’ll see there. That opens an edit screen. If it’s too small you can drag the edges to enlarge it. Within that box, go all the way to the top above a line that starts with an exclamation point. Click on the yellow upload arrow int he top of the edit box and use that to upload your revised image. Above the text line that appears in the edit box label it as Rework or Repost. Below that text string, label the original image as Original. Then go up to the title block in the edit screen and edit it to add “and Repost” so people will know to look again.
Once you know you can edit your post, the rest is pretty intuitive.
Dennis:thanks for the instruction. The instructions were very easy to implement. Richard
I thought the sky looked OK in the original but that the WB was too cool. I had to check that and opened it and did a Camera Raw filter and just increased the Tint to +28. That gave a calmer sky and made the bird pop nicely.
Diane: what you’ve done is a remarkable improvement. Thank you for having taken the time and effort to make the change. Richard
You’re welcome, Richard! It’s a wonderful image worth tweaking to its best color/exposure potential. You could play even more with the sliders in raw conversion. WB is so important as a starting point – and so hard for us to see, as our brains correct color casts so much, on a monitor as well as out in real life.
