The Complainer

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I was driving out of Colusa NWR in the Sacramento Valley in September around mid-day so the light was very harsh (and it was close to 95F). On the right side of the car down in the canal were two noisy cormorants and three black-crowned night herons, two males and a female. This cormorant was not at all happy when the night heron glided over to land on his/her log. The heron ignored the cormorant as it continued to complain loudly for a few minutes.

Specific Feedback

I thought this was fun but I’m not sure how to deal with it. How to crop, especially. Whether I should blur the vegetation on the bank behind them which I tried to but not very well. Or even if this is a shot worth working on because of the background…

Technical Details

Fuji X-H2S, 1/2000s, f/16, ISO 6400, 568mm.

DXO PureRaw import into Lightroom Classic, removed a few foreground twigs in Photoshop.


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Very nice catch of this action! Your F16 did the trick to get them both in focus. The very bright bit of grass on the bottom left draws my eye a bit, so you might consider removing it. The open squawking beak is nice, and the heron is clearly ignoring the cormorant.
Humourous image!

1 Like

Excellent work on the depth of field, Debbie, and you handled the harsh light well. I hadn’t noticed the bit of grass, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to remove it. The background is a bit of a nuisance and it would take some careful selection in a few places to do much about it, though just slightly brightening the dark areas and significantly dimming the brighter areas would help a lot I think. Is this full frame? I’m thinking it would have been nice to have a bit more of the perch that the heron is going to land on. I think the action here would be enough to make me spend some significant time on it.

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@SandyR-B I may remove that grass, thank you for pointing it out.

@Dennis_Plank Not full-frame but cropped so I do have more room to play with this. Here’s the original:

Debbie, I like the crop you chose except as noted the perch below would be nice to have for the night heron to land. This shows great action with an interesting field note to tell the story. Excellent use of DOF at f16 to get both birds in good focus. I don’t find the BG too objectionable as it is just environment and the action takes the attention off of it enough. The small branches and leaves around the big stick perch could be removed, but I think even they are OK if you have more of the perch to look at. You did well to crop out the leaves coming in from above, the grass on the left side, and the white stick on the lower right side. You may not be comfortable w9th cloning things out, but the bright stick under the perch could go too.

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Thanks @Ed_Williams, I’m fine with cloning things out. These are great suggestions - I’m heading to the Rio Grande Valley tomorrow for a photo/birding tour, but will work on this photo next week and see how it shapes up.

Good luck in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Debbie. We’ve never been this time of year. I’d love to hear how your trip goes, and see some of your discoveries down there.

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@Ed_Williams Thanks - I’ve never been there at all, so really looking forward to it! It’s supposed to snow here tomorrow so the 90 F+ in TX will be a shock.

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There’s a lot to like about this image. I think you’ve handled the bright light well. I think it would tell more of the story to have the perch visible for the heron to land on. The background doesn’t bother me as the eye is directed well to the birds. Definite keeper; well done.

Hi Debbie
I like the framing on your repost, but something happens the focus and whites ?
Peter