The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This photo was taken in the marshlands of Georgia near St. Catherine’s Island. We were travelling north by sailboat and a violent storm was forecast so we sought shelter and this was the closest. Having just dropped the anchor, I heard the exhale of a dolphin and ran for my camera. I was fumbling with my settings as I ran to stern, which is the lowest area of the boat, for a perfect position to photograph from, but they were gone! Lucky for me another nursery pod came along down the river and this time I was a little better prepared, and I was able to get this parting shot before they dove and were gone out of photography range.
Specific Feedback
I learned from this photo that on overcast days I need to add more light to my exposures. This photo had a lot of grain and I used lightroom AI, but I was not sure how much I should use. I think the slider was around 50 on this photo. I assumed that since there is no fine detail in the photo that I didn’t really need to worry too much about how much noise reduction I used. How do I decide what to look for when applying noise reduction ? I also wonder if I should not have done black and white on this photo.
Technical Details
1/500 sec @ f6.3, iso1250, 200-600mm @600 on Sony A7riv. I used lightroom AI noise reduction before continuing to process in lightroom.
This is a wonderful shot partcularly because of the cascade of water coming off the fluke. I cannot be very helpful with what to look for with noise reduction…I think sometimes you can get some colours around high contrast points, or a plastic look, which I don’t really see here. To me this photo would be lovely printed on a wall or a card as it is a bit soft on focus that I find distracting on my monitor.
I am learning to really push for as fast a shutter speed as possible as you can usually handle any noise from higher ISO in post. I think you may have had room to go to 1/1000.
I like the colours here and I think this also lends itself very well to B&W as long as you can maintain the shape and movement of the water off the fluke.
You managed to capture it very nicely!
IMHO it calls for a higher shutter speed. You have managed the noise well but you may need to treat the sharpening hellos.
Yes this would work great as B&W !
The double cascades are great. I agree with the others that it could work well as a black and white image, which might even enhance some of the subtle details on the fluke (like those bite marks).
Composition-wise, I think this works well, but because this is mostly about a central graphic shape (rather than evoking a particular movement or leading the eye through the frame), I think cropping from the bottom to even the space on each side of the subject would balance it out a bit more.
Great story - should look good in black and white
To freeze the water droplets you will need a minimum shutter speed of 1/4000 sec and the plane of the subject has to be in the same plane as the droplets
Thank you very much to all of you. I truly appreciate your suggestions. Lucky for me, the day before this shot, I had just finished watching a video about how to set my Sony camera’s memory buttons for portrait, action, and landscape or I would not have got any shots of the dolphin. Thank you again for your input.
