2016 Project 52, Fourth Quarter by Joe/ Joebranko

Nicely done but could do with a bit of separation of some of the foreground birds.

Agree with John--Great potential here. Lightening the water just a tad would address the separation problem. You have told me you use Lightroom so I finally looked at Lightroom to see how I would replicate what I can do in Photoshop to get the desired change. It took a little hunting but it is there. If you are interested I can send you some thoughts privately.

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Originally Posted by Shadowman

Nicely done but could do with a bit of separation of some of the foreground birds.

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Thanks John. Separation between the birds from each other or from the water?

I think I would crop about half of the sky in order to put the emphasis more on the birds Joe. IMO the clouds are competing with the birds ;)

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

I think I would crop about half of the sky in order to put the emphasis more on the birds Joe. IMO the clouds are competing with the birds ;)

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I agree, it's a shame as there are some nice ones, but they do distract/compete.

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

I think I would crop about half of the sky in order to put the emphasis more on the birds Joe. IMO the clouds are competing with the birds ;)

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Yes, and the horizon is about half way which often causes composition issues.

However, I wonder about another approach. Lose the left hand group of birds which are a confused muddle. About one third of the total width. Maybe a mix of crop and clone. That will concentrate on the cleaner lines of the remaining better spaced birds. And adjust the sky to suit.

What an interesting set of comments you have gotten. So here is a bit more. If the water were lightened two things happen--it provides the needed separation of the birds from the foreground and it reduces the competition with the sky since water and sky are more similar in value. I rather like the expanse of sky since that is where the birds are presumably going. I can see some cropping on the left side, but also can see leaving them all in if the separation work is done. I can almost hear them squawking!. So you have lots to choose from in developing this to suit your likes!

Amazing shot!!!

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

I think I would crop about half of the sky in order to put the emphasis more on the birds Joe. IMO the clouds are competing with the birds ;)

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I agree, they do seem to compete. I hate to see them go, as I spent a lot of PP time on them, but, oh well...

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Originally Posted by Dave Humphries

I agree, it's a shame as there are some nice ones, but they do distract/compete.

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Thanks Dave.

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Originally Posted by Geoff F

Yes, and the horizon is about half way which often causes composition issues.

However, I wonder about another approach. Lose the left hand group of birds which are a confused muddle. About one third of the total width. Maybe a mix of crop and clone. That will concentrate on the cleaner lines of the remaining better spaced birds. And adjust the sky to suit.

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Thanks Geoff. I did consider loosing the birds on the bottom left, but in the end decided to keep them as they embody the confusion they felt as I approached forcing them to leave in a panic. However I do think it would improve the composition without that group.

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Originally Posted by Urbanflyer

What an interesting set of comments you have gotten. So here is a bit more. If the water were lightened two things happen--it provides the needed separation of the birds from the foreground and it reduces the competition with the sky since water and sky are more similar in value. I rather like the expanse of sky since that is where the birds are presumably going. I can see some cropping on the left side, but also can see leaving them all in if the separation work is done. I can almost hear them squawking!. So you have lots to choose from in developing this to suit your likes!

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Thanks Judith. With regards the lightening of the water, I had already lightened it quite a bit from the original shot. I had also selectively darkened the birds for the same reason. I thought I had responded to your first comments about this shot, saying I would love to see your suggestions either in this forum or privately. Perhaps I did not click 'Post Quick Reply', and lost the post? Anyhoo, I plan to have another 'go' at the PP and will post it shortly.

Thanks all for your suggestions. here is the rework, including many (all?) of your ideas. I like it.


http://i64.tinypic.com/30m4nwh.jpg

The birds stand out nicely now Joe :)

Yes, I agree.

This is Trudy, my Chocolate Labrador. She takes me for walks every morning to capture the sunrises.

http://i65.tinypic.com/23h690n.jpg

This is her racing with a Husky in a off leash park:

http://i65.tinypic.com/1zltydy.jpg

And the winner is:-

http://i68.tinypic.com/r91kkw.jpg

How old is she Joe ? She looks energetic :)

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Originally Posted by bnnrcn

How old is she Joe ? She looks energetic :)

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She is just one year Binnur, and very very energetic!

Hi Joe,

I agree that the reworked geese shot is much better, well done.

Of the Trudy shots; the first two are great, I'm not so sure about the last because we can't see her face at all, she's heading away from us/you and even the way the hanging paw overlaps the one behind is unfortunate.

HTH, Dave

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Originally Posted by Dave Humphries

Hi Joe,

I agree that the reworked geese shot is much better, well done.

Of the Trudy shots; the first two are great, I'm not so sure about the last because we can't see her face at all, she's heading away from us/you and even the way the hanging paw overlaps the one behind is unfortunate.

HTH, Dave

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Thanks Dave. I agree about the third shot. I only threw it in to add to the story 🤔