The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We just spend a couple of days at a State Park with lots of grassy areas and Robins everywhere. Given this week’s challenge I thought it would be fun to try to photograph them from ground level. At that level they were obscured by the grass.
Specific Feedback
Is the Robin sufficiently clear despite the out of focus foreground grasses?
Technical Details
Sony A1, FE 200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 823 mm, handheld on ground, f/9, 1/1000, manual focus. Processed in LR & PS CC. Minor brightness adjustment and crop. Taken at 5:53 PM on April 22nd.
Critique Template
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Cool to get down there with these guys – I don’t think I could get that close to one. I like the shoot through idea, but wonder about a little brighter exposure and maybe a bit of Dehaze, or something to pull out more detail in the darks. Maybe a crop from the bottom? There seems to be a bit more room than needed for the virtual feet.
Hi Diane
I guess it’s useful having the super telephoto (I don’t ), to get this close-up. I’m yearning for a little bit more exposure and perhaps moving the white point as I find the image to be quite obscured in the shadows. But I rarely shoot birds, so you can take my comments with salt:)
I really like the concept here, but the slightly blurry bird bothered me. In my mind the image needed a sharp bird head to pop out of the green. I ran the image through Topaz AI. It sharpened and upscaled (added pixels) to the image. Per suggestions above by @Diane_Miller and @madd_laura I applied dehaze, and increased the exposure of the whites only. I also added a little texture to make the bird head pop a little more and I went into PS to remove the orange behind the bird’s head.
I apologize if I got away from your vision. This is the first time I have edited someone else’s image. I love your idea of the robin in a blurred bed of green!
Nice job @Willemd. This was an experiment to see how people would receive this and I certainly see the issues with it. I had other images from the session with the head more defined, but it required the head being above the grass which got it a little higher than I liked. Back to the drawing board on this one.
Hi Dennis, this was a great idea, seeing this robin at ground level, in his natural habitat, and the OOF grass makes for a very even fore- and background. With that being said, I admit to liking @Willemd edits, which improved the overall definition of the bird.
This is something I tried once and didn’t execute nearly as well. This challenge has encouraged me to try getting lower and even shooting through some. I think it takes some skill to make it work though. I do like a slightly sharper version, but I can see wanting to retain the feel that it’s hiding in the grass. Maybe this is the worm’s perspective.
