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Thread: Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.

  1. #1
    rwfarnell's Avatar
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    Rob Farnell

    Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.

    Hi,

    These are a couple of shots taken during lunch today at the park.

    Thanks for viewing my pictures. Your comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated.

    Thanks again,
    Rob

    Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.


    Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.


    Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.

  2. #2
    GeorgeM's Avatar
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    George Montgomery

    Re: Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.

    Nice set, especially the egret. The details on the egret are very nice.
    Maybe clone out that debris at upper left and lower right?

  3. #3
    Snarkbyte's Avatar
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    Al

    Re: Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.

    The egret is nice and sharp, and the eye is nicely placed, but to my eye, there's just too much empty space. I would try cropping the lower third and the right third out completely, and see what happens. Maybe crop a bit off the top, too... just enough to get rid of the debris in the water. If you're careful with the cropping, you may be able to maintain the bird's eye position at the one-third power point.

    I think the heron shot has the most potential of the three. I would crop a bit at the bottom to get rid of the horizontal part of the tree trunk and clone out the grass on the left and the vines around the tree. Darken the sky and possibly add some saturation to make the sky bluer, then increase exposure on the bird. You'll need some local burning to avoid blowing the highlights along the bird's neck and head, as well as the bright area on the wood by the heron's foot. Add a little contrast and some sharpening. Be careful to include some tonal difference between the bird and the sky.

    I'm not sure that much can really be done with the alligator. There's just too much clutter in the background, but if you're willing to crop off the top half and clone out the what remains of the tall bushes and the heron, you might get something to work. There would still be a lot of bright highlights on the water plants and large tonal differences on the gator to even out, but you could give it a try.

  4. #4
    Peter Ryan's Avatar
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    Re: Today at lunch – an Alligator, Blue Heron and an Egret.

    Hi Rob,

    Nice lunch spot. Do you eat there often? What a fantastic opportunity to have this to play with in your lunch break. Keep shooting.

    #1 is a good record shot but it is not going to be much more than that but nice to keep and remember the moment.

    #2 looks has potential but it looks like a pretty aggressive crop that has been over sharpened. The angle of the sun si not illuminating the birds body on this side so it is hard to get much detail. The pose is really good and would just keep taking your camera to lunch.

    #3 looks like this fellow was really close. Given the long shape in the image I would have tendered to use a portrait format rather than the landscape crop, as the neck appears too long. Alternatively crop about 60% of the way up the neck and just show the interesting face looking into the negative space. The light is on the right side to show off the face and provide some modelling on the neck.

    Please keep posting your lunchtime escapades.

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