In February this year I was a few days in Bosque del Apache NWR. The last time I was there is more than 15 years ago, and it was in June. This time around there were lots and lots of birds. It was challenging because there were so many birds, at first I did not know were to point my camera at. And then the emotions. Wow, they really screwed me up. After some time I calmed down and concentrated on just a few of the birds. I managed to get a decent shot of those two. Technically it is not tack sharp. It looks sharp on the web site, but in LRC the eye is slightly out of focus. But I like the composition and the out of focus of the second bird., which gives the image some depth.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any critiques and comments are greatly appreciated.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D810, AF-S 500mm f4D ED, TC1.4 II, 1/640sec, f5.6, Gitzo 1348 + Kirk BH.
Ahh… Bosque. Since I live in Albuquerque and regularly visit and teach there, I understand the emotions. It is a marvelous place. Tougher this year with our ongoing drought, but still an amazing place.
Nice image. I like the OOF bird and the bird looks pretty good for sharpness. My only change would be to tone down the sky. While we have nice blue skies here, they don’t look like that. The saturation is just too high to be realistic.
I’m glad Keith chimed in on the sky first, Rudy, as it looked a trifle overdone to my eye as well. For my taste the background bird sticks out a tad too much. I’m not quite sure what to do about that-maybe blur and desaturate it a trifle more.
Now that you mention it, I agree. The sky is over saturated. Sometimes I sit in front of an image and just don’t see it. It is always good to have someone to take a look at it. I turned it down a bit.
Crane on the right is sharp with good light , flight position, and exposure. OOF crane is a little distracting. Sky looks better with the blue desaturation.
