Figured I’d continue the theme from yesterday. Here’s another stilt with quite a bit of environment included. In post, I straightened the image, set white and black points, cropped in from the top just a touch, smoothed out one spot in the BG, and reduced noise on the BG. Didn’t sharpen the bird. All C&C welcome.
Techs:
D850
700mm, from tripod
1/3200
f/7.1
ISO 640
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Hi Love this photo Lyle. The sharp detail right on the eye is perfect. I also like how there is room in front of the bird. The only think I might have tried is to crop the bottom only enough to remove the body of the bird out and maybe some on the left. A awesome photo image over all.
Real nice Lyle. Hard to decide which one I like better, this one or the first. The first one appears to have more artistic characteristics with all of the blurred areas but this one has some really fine detail and once again a great point of view. (Someday when I get younger, I’ll be able to lie down on my belly and achieve this type of low point of view image without killing myself.) I’m not bothered by the reflection although it might be worth looking at the image with a vignette to somewhat darken the plumage at the bottom of the image. Also I do notice some iridescence to the body plumage and I’m not sure whether that is there or just because of the lighting. I’ve only seen a few stilts and never close up. The drop on the tip of the beak is a nice plus. Good work.
Hi Lyle, I do believe I like this shot better than the first - still shows the environment well and our view of the bird is unobstructed. Nice exposure on the bird and the details are great. This composition works for me even though I could see trying a version with the bird’s body cropped out (as Dean states). Well done.
A nice composition. The grass balances the bird. Nice low POV and the background is pleasing. Excellent detail, the red eye stands out and I like the iridescence on the wings. I like the panoramic crop and could also see cropping off the reflected body and then perhaps adding a bit on top.
Excellent. I prefer this to the previous version. You’ve still got good environment without a lot of clutter. Nice detail on the stilt; excellent exposure. The low shooting angle is nice as well and almost always preferred.
If you are going to crop any more I’d suggest a small amount from the left to eliminate the lighter green on the edge of the frame. It is slightly distracting and pulls the viewer away from the stilt. I try to eliminate bright areas on the edges of the frame but don’t always notice them until after I’ve finished processing.
Thanks, @David_Schoen. There is actually a subtle vignette already added, and I burned the white plumage at the bottom. I thought the reflection adds, but it’s always risky to have something white at the edge of the frame. I also wanted to keep this frame about this loose, but I can experiment. As to the iridescence, stilts do have some iridescence in their black feathers, but the light has to hit them just right for it to show. Got lucky with the position of the stilt’s body here.
