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bajadreamer

bajadreamer

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Way behind on my photo processing. Just starting the images from our Costa Rica trip last November. These shots are two views of the same bird. Do you have a preference? When the first image was taken, he (Olive-crowned Yellowthroat) was singing in response to a play back from our guide, Chambita. The bird was looking directly at us providing an engaging image, but with DOF problems. After the initial recording was played, the bird continued to sing on his own for 60 seconds. The back ground was pretty "busy" with a lot of sticks and leaves (this was in the rainforest after all), so I applied a selective blur to the BG. Otherwise the images were processed in PS with the BG slightly darkened and the bird slightly brightened.
I have a "weakness" for yellow birds. My favorite color!
Taken with a Canon R5, 600 mm f/4.0 lens off a tripod from a boat at Cano Negro, Costa Rica.

Olive-crowned-Yellowthroat.jpg
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Olive-crowned-Yellowthroat-2.jpg
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I really like both of them but overall I like the first shot better with better. I don't find the background as you've displayed this image to be a problem in either photo. I like the pose and the direction of the head and eye better in the first photo and think the perch works better as well.

But really, they're both very nice images and well captured. Nice work!
 
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I like the position of the bird better in the first image but don't like the feet being OOF. I'm not fond of straight on breast shots but would choose the second shot due to better detail on the bird. Both nice shots.
 
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Both are nice images, but after looking at both images for a while, I came to prefer the second image. All of the subject is sharp, the composition is strong, and the background does not compete with the subject but instead frames the subject and provides context.
 
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DRwyoming said:
I really like both of them but overall I like the first shot better with better. I don't find the background as you've displayed this image to be a problem in either photo. I like the pose and the direction of the head and eye better in the first photo and think the perch works better as well.

But really, they're both very nice images and well captured. Nice work!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the nice words. Because I was in a boat, I was hesitant to reduce my SS to go from f/5.6 to f/8.0. I would have only gained about an inch of DOF (the bird was about 30 feet away). Not sure it would have been worth the drop in SS. When I did drop the SS in #1, I should have changed my f/stop rather than my ISO. In retrospect, the bird stuck around for over a minute, so I would have had enough time to experiment.
 
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NorthernFocus said:
I like the position of the bird better in the first image but don't like the feet being OOF. I'm not fond of straight on breast shots but would choose the second shot due to better detail on the bird. Both nice shots.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I agree with your assessment. As I mentioned to Dave, in retrospect I should have experimented more with my f stop.
 
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Butlerkid said:
Both are nice images, but after looking at both images for a while, I came to prefer the second image. All of the subject is sharp, the composition is strong, and the background does not compete with the subject but instead frames the subject and provides context.
Click to expand...
Thank you. If the images were of equal sharpness overall, I would have chosen the 1st, but, alas, not to be. I did have to blur the BG somewhat in both shots.
 
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I like the pose of number 1 better but I like the composition of number 2 better therefore my pick would be number 2. I do like that the second image is opened up just a bit showcasing a little more of the environment in which this beautiful creature lives. In photo 1, what I find interesting and intriguing, is is the bird singing or hav you been spotted and the bird is "yelling" at you to back off. (based on your description it was singing but without that description, photo 1 makes the viewer pause a couple seconds to think about what is going on here). I do like the intrigue on photo 1. Perhaps if you opened the crop just a touch to include some environment photo 1 would be the clear winner.

Honestly, I'd be happy with either shot.

Jeff
 
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jeffnles1 said:
I like the pose of number 1 better but I like the composition of number 2 better therefore my pick would be number 2. I do like that the second image is opened up just a bit showcasing a little more of the environment in which this beautiful creature lives. In photo 1, what I find interesting and intriguing, is is the bird singing or hav you been spotted and the bird is "yelling" at you to back off. (based on your description it was singing but without that description, photo 1 makes the viewer pause a couple seconds to think about what is going on here). I do like the intrigue on photo 1. Perhaps if you opened the crop just a touch to include some environment photo 1 would be the clear winner.

Honestly, I'd be happy with either shot.

Jeff
Click to expand...
Thank you for your thoughts and comments. Yes, I feel #1 is the most engaging of the two but I have a hard time dismissing the DOF problems. #1 has obviously been cropped more than #2, but neither has major crop. #1 had some very distracting highlights to the L of the image-the sky was visible through the leaves. I tried toning it down with masking and/or cloning but could not get it to look right, so ended up cropping it out.
 
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