BIF Comments Welcome

[victor]

The foliowing are images taken on a day out at local Falconry Centre and RSPB Reserves. Comments welcome.











Thanks

[Donald]

In my opinion, you hit the bullseye with these two. Interested to read what the bird-in-flight experts on here think of them.

[NorthernFocus]

I like the incoming position and eye contact in the first shot. The wing angle doesn't show off the plummage from top nor bottom side. From a technical standpoint there is some sort of artifact halo all the way around the bird that is revealed when viewed large as well as a general softening of detail.

IMO the second image is the strongest of the set. Both for the position of the bird and technical aspects. I won't comment in detail on exposure/color etc. because I'm not on a good monitor at the moment. There appear to be some cloning artifacts under the bird.

I like the flight position and BG in the first egret shot. On the second egret the wing position isn't my favorite and it is slightly departing. Even on this poor monitor the whites seem to be handled well on both egrets but they both exhibit some blurring due to what looks like camera shake.

The tern composite is simply cool Black point on the center shot could be lowered to match the other two images in the scene and look more natural.

Overall a good effort.

[Shadowman]

Nice series and sampling of species. One and two for me, with the second for BG and contrast.

[Kodiak]

Comments welcome.

Hi David,

I would like to bring my very subjective observations here:

Photography:
• 1, 2, and 3 are very cool: well chosen moment and good position of the
subject in relation to the camera. I like that all is not sharp since it depicts
the ephemeral aspect of this type of image hunting.
• 4 was too early or too late and out of focus. Though it is not a keeper in
my book, I like that you included it in your post… it is great to see the
"almost" shots as well!
• 5 gives me the greatest pleasure as a viewer. Thank you!

Rendition
• To my taste, your #5 relly makes it. This composition is brilliant (though
too much space between the subjects) and, at this size for what I can see, the
softer contrast and gentle pastel tones are masterly executed (I don't say that
very often!).
• 1 and 2 are not cutting it! Sharpening, saturation and other pp artefacts
are not necessary to this extent. Mother Nature don't need make-up! I think
there is enough beauty in the takes…
• 3… I love this one! The chosen rendition is vivid and the slower SS gives
a good sense of the action.

[victor]

Kodlak, Dan, Donald, Shadowman

Many thanks for your valued responses. Falcons are fast birds to capture when heading for the lure. No 5 took some time to achieve PP across all three Images. I will bring them closer together as suggested.

Will revisit 1 & 2 recrop and process again taking care with the cloning under no 2 (Removing Jessie's) , and the black point on no 5 as suggested by Dan

Donald thanks for your comments much appreciated

Thanks again.

Regards

[IzzieK]

David, my favourite of all of your shots here is #3 followed by #2. Both because of the composition. The whites of the egret really showed through here. It is very hard to capture white as real white but you got it nailed here. #2 I like for its sharpness.