The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
During the spring of 2021 I visited this pond which was a roosting site for shore birds about twenty minutes from my home 3 or 4 times a week. There were around 30 or 40 ducks of many varieties living around the pond and the local ranger would feed them each morning. I had noticed that baby ducks kept disappearing. One morning I would see a mother with 6-8 chicks. The next morning she would have only 4-5 chicks and this happened with all the hens that had chicks. I assumed that the red-shouldered hawk, the osprey or perhaps the bald eagle that I had seen in the area was the cause. On this morning, however, I observed a black-crowned night heron stalking this domestic mallard who had only one chick left. I even witnessed the night heron make an attack trying to catch the chick. I set up my camera with a 600mm lens on a tripod and watched and waited. I could see the heron stalking the duck. It stayed on the shore as close to the hen mallard as possible. The mallard seemed oblivious to the heron. All of a sudden the heron made its move. I was caught a little off guard as my first frame was after the chick had dove. You can see the splash right behind the hen mallard in the first image. The heron swooped in and dove exactly where the chick dove. The hen mallard was caught completely by surprise, but she quickly recovered and tried to attack the heron. She made an incredible amount of noise. It struck me at the time that the hen mallard really doesn’t have any weapons to attack a threat with except lots of noise and possibly an attempt at drowning them. The chick popped up a yard or so from shore and the hen successfully chased off the heron. It was a really exciting few seconds!
Specific Feedback
My goal here is to make the birds stand out against the background as much as possible. I darkened the light shining off the water quite a bit, but should I have done more? I also brightened the birds slightly, again to make them stand out. Is there anything else I could have done?
Technical Details
Canon R5, 600mm L R4.0 lens, manual exposure, eye tracking
ISO 1000, 600mm, f/8.0, 1/2000sec
processed in LR, PS, and Topaz for slight sharpening and minor noise reduction
Great sequence and some fast action Alexander. I would mask the water and look to but some blue color in it with White Balance. The third photo all seems too white so I would rework that and decrease exposure mask water and then mask birds to bring down highlights and put see how they would look if texture was added. The first and third are good companion shots. Some nice captures.
I agree, Alexander, very nice action. The top one came out very well. The lighting can change quite a bit with moving action. Using auto ISO helps with a range limit set. Stephen suggestions I agree with.
Wonderful action happening here. It’s truly amazing the things we can capture.
Alexander, I reckon all the images could do with a little CCW rotation. I would be tempted to try a large linear gradient from the bottom to darken the water more. (In LR, use the mask to intersect the subjects.) Perhaps another linear gradient from the right to further isolate the birds? There’s a red “thing” in the background that I would certainly remove.
Thank you @Stephen_Stanton, @Dean_Salman and @Glenys_Passier for your wonderful feedback. I have tried to implement all of your suggestions and reposted all three images. In addition I painted into the bright water areas with a yellow-brown color from the calm water in the background in order to further reduce the brightness of these areas. These changes definitely help the birds stand out and thus display the drama of the scenes better. Did I go too far in darkening the water? Please let me know if you have any further comments.
A really cool series, Willem. The reposts are much better. It looks to my eye as if the first one is a bit brighter than the rest, so you might put it side by side with the others and see if you can make it match a bit more. The tangled out of focus grasses in the first are also quite distracting even though the action attracts my attention more. I’m not sure exactly how to handle it, but more darkening on that part of the background might help.
This is definitely a fine sequence and worth a lot of effort to make it the best possible.
Willem, you caught the action from a great story. I especially like the first repost with how white, but not blown, the heron is. #3 also does a good job of showing off momma’s rage, where I love the splash from her wings.. While she doesn’t have a pointed beak, she’s strong enough to do serious damage to the Heron if she gets a hard peck in.
What a great series, Alexander. I especially like the first one for the pose of the heron. Their expressions in the first and third image, suggests a playfulness to the encounter.
Thank you @Dennis_Plank, @Mark_Seaver and @Allen_Brooks for your comments! I have made two adjustments to image one. I darkened the water slightly to try and make the overall brightness more consistent with the other images and I darkened the branches in the background slightly to try and make them less distracting.
