Supper Time (+ Rework)

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

2023-02-21-A7C03202-2-EP-NPN
2023-02-21-A7C03202-2-EP-NPN2000×1600 311 KB

This is the revised version after some suggestions given in the comments.

Supper Time
Supper Time2000×1600 339 KB

This was the original submission.

Last week, on a late afternoon hike at Inks Lake State Park (about an hour from Austin, Texas), I had intended to photograph the setting sun over the lake and extensive pink granite rocks scattered throughout the park. Nature, however, had more in store for me. I literally stumbled upon the scene you see in the photo above. As I stepped onto a short footbridge, I was surprised to see this red-tailed hawk with supper in its claws. I stopped immediately and began making photos and videos. Throughout the entire time, the hawk never moved. I had nowhere to go but backtrack or hope the hawk would move. It did not initially. After some time, it tried to move, but the reality was the squirrel was too heavy for it to fly away. Eventually, the hawk moved in short jumps. After three attempts, it finally found a large boulder on the side of the trail. At that point, I was able to step off the trail and go around the scene. I was lucky to have been carrying a monopod with me and make several photos. I had to think and act fast because I knew this was a brief moment I likely would never encounter in my lifetime: the balance of nature right before my eyes. I was also glad I did not have to zoom in too much to get this. The background was also in my favor, as it was not very busy and was pretty monochromatic This particular capture was my favorite because of the regal and proud look of the hawk. I could not move much, as I did not want to upset the hawk. Although I wanted to attempt different compositions, I went for the obvious image with the hawk in the center. At home, I was able to crop the right side and place the hawk where I thought would be a better composition. When it comes to nature, sometimes we cannot be very picky as to how we can compose a photograph. I was lucky to have been there at the right time and place. The same cannot be said about the squirrel.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

I wish I had had more space above the hawk’s head. I think it would have made a better composition. What do you think?

Technical Details

The image was processed mostly on Luminar Neo with final touches on Lightroom. I did use a monopod when making this photo.
Screenshot 2023-02-27 at 10.02.27

5 Likes
2

Exceptional. Not often one gets an eye level view of a hawk. Excellent details. The framing and composition work; not sure if more is needed above, though you could see if content aware works.

1 Like
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Hello. This is a great photo. I like the composition and don’t feel you need more room at the head. The detail in the bird and prey is very good and tells a compelling story.
I do find the background a bit busy and distracting as the tangles of the branches are quite bright. Great capture!

1 Like
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This is lovely photo Egidio, well taken. I agree with Robena that it tells a great story.
I’m happy with the composition, of course there’s always some sense in taking wider shots as well when you see a subject like this, but if time and circumstances are against you then you just have to think fast and get what you can.
It’s very impressive.

1 Like
5

Wow! Wonderful detail and a great pose, worthy of the very special moment you captured. I love the story told by the blood on its left foot and beak.

I’m wondering about a gradient burn of the highlights from the left edge, or even a crop of the tree near the edge. But that would be a minor touch, as the hawk stands out so well from the BG.

1 Like
6

A nice encounter indeed. Rare to get a hawk down this low with prey. Nice.

The technical details all look good except for the white breast. I’m hoping you have more detail in the raw file. You were fortunate to pull this off at 1/90. I would have opted for a much wider aperture to further soften the background which would have also provided more shutter speed for safety. You would have still had more than enough depth to deal with the subject. Even on a monopod, that’s a pretty slow shutter.

Nature is great to get in the viewfinder.

2 Likes
7

First of all, thanks to all of you, @Allen_Brooks , @Robena.Sirett , @Ryan_H , @Diane_Miller , and @Keith_Bauer for your suggestions and compliments, and for taking the time to write. Let me see if I can address your ideas and answer your questions below.

I knew I did not have much time to keep shooting until the hawk took off. In order not to look threatening to the hawk, I did try to keep a low profile and get closer to the ground. It helped me a lot to obtain that eye-level view you mentioned. Thank you.

Robena, that is a very good point indeed. I struggled to try to get a background that looked less busy. When in nature, as you well know, we cannot always get the clean shot we want. However, I do agree that the tangled branches appear quite bright. I will attempt to burn that a little more and repost a new edit later. Thanks for the suggestion. It was very perceptive and kind of you to point it out.

Ryan, I truly felt like I was racing against time. I was surprised the hawk sat still for what appeared to be a long time. That perfect balance between a wider and zoom shot is something to strive for in my photography.

Thanks again, Diane. As Robena suggested, I will attempt a re-edit including the gradient burn or maybe a luminosity adjustment to the brighter colors in the BG bushes. As for the blood on the beak, I only noticed that when I was looking at the image at home in full-screen mode. I recall having seen the hawk dig into the squirrel earlier but had not noticed any blood then.

I am glad you point that out, Keith. I really did not like the whites on the breast either. I kept thinking they were blown out. Lightroom was not showing that, but my eyes kept seeing it. I did apply a radial gradient there to reduce highlights and whites, but I was not satisfied. Any suggestions on how to approach that again?

Pulling this at 1/90 was only possible because I had my monopod lying flat on the ground giving me full support and no shaking. I’ve been using that technique a lot for my macro shots at ground level. In retrospect, hadn’t I been so thrilled in seeing this, I would have changed the settings and used a higher shutter speed and a wider aperture. That teaches me a lesson to add that setting for one of the memory buttons in my camera. I already have two settings there, but the third setting is available – until now.

Thank you all. I’ll try to work on the BG adjustments suggested and repost later in the next couple of days.

1 Like
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The whites do appear a bit blown. Have you tried starting with a linear profile? I don’t know Luminar, but you can get linear profiles for many cameras from Tony Kuyper. They are a good starting point in LR for difficult whites. The starting point for any image can vary a lot with the profile chosen and the default one isn’t based on taming the histogram, for any application I know about. If he doesn’t already have one for a given camera, you can send him a raw file and he’ll make one and add it to the list.

9

Everyone, thanks again for your feedback. I’ve just posted a re-edit of the original image presented here. I did a couple of things in the edit, as evidenced by comparing the two photos. The BG is a bit darker now. I was careful (I hope) not to overdo that. As for the highlights on the hawk’s chest, that was a big struggle. I went back to the original RAW image and really could not recover much detail. The histogram was not showing blown highlights, but it was clear that there was not much detail there. Now that I have a memory set for these types of encounters (wide aperture, faster shutter speed), I will hopefully be more prepared for these unexpected encounters.

Thank y’all. I so much appreciated your patience and suggestions.

1 Like
10

Nice work – the whites and the BG look much more pleasing.