Went for Drive

[rtbaum]

I got up for the revered morning light and took a drive, looking for more swans and perhaps a bald eagle or two. The bird watching gods did not smile upon me in this regard, but the gods were more forthcoming in other areas. I know which I prefer, tell me what you think.


Barn cats


hawk


steam power


old tractor


warbler

[JPS]

Hi Randy,
looks like you had a good morning out.
For me the 'Warbler' takes 1st prize.

What is the effect you have used on the Hawk shot? I'm not sure if I like it or not, to be honest, but I keep looking at it so that's good.
Thanks for sharing.

[Kdfrank]

It's the warbler for me too, although the cats shot is very cool...maybe a closer crop?
Great shots, all.

[rtbaum]

Hi Randy,
looks like you had a good morning out.
For me the 'Warbler' takes 1st prize.

What is the effect you have used on the Hawk shot? I'm not sure if I like it or not, to be honest, but I keep looking at it so that's good.

Thanks for sharing.

[rtbaum]

Either slight breeze blowing twigs or running car motor

[GrahamH]

Got some great potential in the fantastic subjects of the steam engine and tractor. Would love to spend a couple of hours with them and camera.
Current focus and compsoition needs tweaking on these however.
Get out there again and work it more, love to see what you get.
Graham

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Randy,

#5: The warbler is a shot I'd be proud to have taken, well done. I would suggest a gentle crop of 10-15% off the right hand side to place the bird looking more 'into' han 'out of' the picture.

#3 and #4: I'm not sure what happened to the focus on Steam Power and the Old Tractor, in both cases, I suspect multi-point focus has decided to lock on to the detail on the barn wall behind the subject.

#2: The hawk has some unfortunate bokeh, I have had similar myself, all you can do is shoot at different apertures and see where your lens behaves best when presented with a subject and background like this - it is the bright sunlit twigs that cause the problem. If you want to make more of this shot, I would recommend doing PP on two layers; one for the subject and one for the background. The subject layer would stand significant Local Contrast Enhancement, although I'd suggest sorting the levels first. The background layer could be darkened and blurred more.

#1: I'd agree with a closer crop on the two kitties - and waiting until the one behind has revealed itself some more.

Hope that helps,