Picnic by the lake. C&C please

[TonyW]

Went on a picnic by the Queensland University lake in honour of Duncan's 50th birthday. The correllas roosted in the trees

056A4066 by tonyw36, on Flickr

promptly at noon took to flight for their daily exercise and foraging

056A4097ed by tonyw36, on Flickr

some like Icarus flying perilously close to the sun

056A4101ed by tonyw36, on Flickr

before returning home

056A4098 by tonyw36, on Flickr

The dusky moorhen trod carefully over the grass

056A4028 by tonyw36, on Flickr

went for a gentle narcissistic paddle

056A4048ed(2) by tonyw36, on Flickr

had a bite to eat

056A4058 by tonyw36, on Flickr

The indolent ducks just sat around

056A4025 by tonyw36, on Flickr

056A4062 by tonyw36, on Flickr

The eastern water dragon enjoyed the picnic and climbed up Duncan's leg and arm to snatch a sandwich out of his hand

056A4070ed by tonyw36, on Flickr

Went to a concert in Mayne Hall featuring the organ with its trompettes en chamade and principal pipes in gleaming combinations of lead, copper, antimony and tin.

056A4127(2) by tonyw36, on Flickr

[GeorgeM]

Great series of photos! As for critiques, I would say #6 looks oversharpened as there is a slight halo around the bird's body. That bird could also use a little lightening of the shadowed areas. That's how it looks on my monitor, anyway.
Happy Birthday to Duncan!

[Otavio]

Hi, Tony. Very nice series. On #6 and 7, you might want to bringthen the dark areas, to bring more details out. You could use the tool "lights and shadows" to do it (PS).

Regards,

[TonyW]

Thanks for the comments.

George, you are right about the over sharpening. I had not noticed. Sharpening algorithms are still somewhat of a mystery to me and I am not quite sure that they are optimised. Number 6 is fairly heavily cropped and I suppose I tried to compensate with too much sharpening. I prefer the wider cropped version but only if it is viewed on a large scale. It would not have looked good here unless the link to the original file is used.

Otavio, I agree that I should try to balance the light and shade better, with no 5 as well. I was at a disadvantage because the sun was not from the best angle. I am still learning how to predict when I am taking a picture how it will look finally.

[Otavio]

Thanks for the comments.

... I am still learning how to predict when I am taking a picture how it will look finally.

...And so do I, Tony. Not always we have the chance to shoot during the golden hours, so we always have to try (although it is not always posible) letting the sun behind us. We get the hang of it with a bit (maybe a lot) of practice. As Henri Cartier-Bresson said, our 10.000 first photos will be our worst ones!! Well, my current camera is now registering only about 8.000 shots, so I also have a long way to go in the learning curve!

Cheers,

[pnodrog]

Nice set. The odd one out is obviously the water dragon because it does not make much of a noise.