GBH Hunting

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Woodyg3

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There is a lot wrong with this shot. The light was uneven and left the water looking drab. I couldn't shoot at the bird's level, having to stay up about 8 feet above the water level. This is a significant crop, as well. Still, there's something about the unusual position of the bird pulling the fish out of the water that I like. I have dozens of GBH hunting pictures, but nothing quite like this. So, I'm wondering what others might think. I often remember my own experiences of taking a shot and get attached to it from the good memories standpoint, making it hard to look at the shot critically. :)
GBHFish-500.jpg
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I think it is definitely worth working on as it is quite an unusual perspective not usually seen.
I would reduce the highlights and play with the contrast a bit. Do you mind if I take a shot at playing with it
 
I think it is definitely worth working on as it is quite an unusual perspective not usually seen.
I would reduce the highlights and play with the contrast a bit. Do you mind if I take a shot at playing with it

Sure, it's a small jpeg file, but see what you come up with. I'd be interested.
 
The timing is very nice and it's a nice capture. The color of the fish and the head position of the fish help the image.

While there are some technical issues, the main thing is the image is busy, and you need to help the eye to focus on the fish and the head of the heron. The diagonal angle works really well. So the main thing is to crop tighter. The fish gets lost in the image as presented - and it's at least the co-star. I cropped the wings tightly enough to make it clear that it was intentional. The wiing angles are a little odd, so nothing significant is lost through a crop.

Here's a quick edit. All I did was cropped tighter and did a little brush work on the GBH head and the fish. My brush work included some Clarity, Texture, and a little Dehaze (6) .

Given that it is already cropped there is a limit on how you can use the image - especially with my deeper crop. It's great for social media, a secondary shot in a book or article, but not so much for a larger print.

GBHFish-500-2.jpg
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Tough to work on such a small jpeg :) Here is my take. I happen to like reflections and I was particularly intrigued by the reflection of the fish. My thoughts were to draw attention to the things that make this image dynamic.

Instead of cropping tighter, I went wider to try and emphasis the action of catching the fish. Obviously this extension of canvas to the right and cloning can be done a bit better with more time and not a small jpeg.

I tried to reduce the highlights especially in the neck. Probably would work just fine in the raw file. Increased contrast.

I used OnOne Effects to darken the midtowns and high lights. I used Nik Color Effects Pro ( Darken and Lighten Center), contrast , etc
to try and bring more attention to the birds eye and the fish.

This is all so very subjective and each ones vision will be different. Image definitely has lots of potential in my view.



to try and bring more attention to the birds eye and the fish.

This is all so very subjective and each ones vision will be different. Image definitely has lots of potential in my view.



GBHFish-500.edit.jpg
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GBHFish-500.edit.jpg
 
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Eric, you mention that “the wing angles are a little odd” . Could you please expand on that idea? I am not seeing them as such. Thanks

It's nothing you necessarily control and is the natural position of the bird. But the wing position is tucked rather than outstretched and the wings are at different heights. That means there are none of the leading lines of natural framing associated with partially outstretched wings.

With most subjects there are desired positions for wings, legs, head, etc. With portraits even fingers have desirable and undesirable positions. For example, crossed legs are a problem in bird photos. In this case the wings don't add anything aesthetically and somewhat detract. That makes it a situation where cropping the wings could be a positive.
 
Good capture. Like the suggestions for working in post to take it to its best. And I hear what Eric is saying about lines and wings and regular bird shots, but I think cropping the wings would rob the shot of the story of what's going on, context -- you've captured the bird hunting and securing it's meal; turns out in this case a bird's wings are likely in the way a bit. The pulled in wings work to make the bird, with fish the bullseye of the water rings....
 
The timing is very nice and it's a nice capture. The color of the fish and the head position of the fish help the image.

While there are some technical issues, the main thing is the image is busy, and you need to help the eye to focus on the fish and the head of the heron. The diagonal angle works really well. So the main thing is to crop tighter. The fish gets lost in the image as presented - and it's at least the co-star. I cropped the wings tightly enough to make it clear that it was intentional. The wiing angles are a little odd, so nothing significant is lost through a crop.

Here's a quick edit. All I did was cropped tighter and did a little brush work on the GBH head and the fish. My brush work included some Clarity, Texture, and a little Dehaze (6) .

Given that it is already cropped there is a limit on how you can use the image - especially with my deeper crop. It's great for social media, a secondary shot in a book or article, but not so much for a larger print.

View attachment 702
Nice edit!
 
I think you could also reposition your crop slightly, work with reducing the blue luminosity, and tweak yellow and orange. It will make the eye and fish pop more. Great capture!! I like the unique ones!
 
I like the original as it is, unless maybe you would do some NR on the background. To me, gaknott's edit looks over saturated. As for additional cropping, we're already in the bird's face. I think too tight of a crop takes away some action, and the impression of the water. I wouldn't do much to the original.
 
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This is my edit on the highlights, I used a curve layer (curve downwards), a level layer also darkened the photo and masked in on the bright parts (black mask and use a white brush on the bright parts).

I also tried a brightness/contrast layer and also inverted this to a black mask to paint in the value on the bright parts.

Hope this helps a little to get blown out parts corrected.
GBHFish-500 Edit Before & After.jpg
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This is my edit on the highlights, I used a curve layer (curve downwards), a level layer also darkened the photo and masked in on the bright parts (black mask and use a white brush on the bright parts).

I also tried a brightness/contrast layer and also inverted this to a black mask to paint in the value on the bright parts.

Hope this helps a little to get blown out parts corrected.View attachment 1486
Great action shot. The light is not your friend in this one, so corrections were needed. Unfortunately these guys eat when they're hungry not when the light is at its best. That's why I like to go on trips to the cloud forest, where is cloudy most of the day on most days. Shooting the whole day with clouds is like being in heaven.


Daniel Zdonczyk
www.Photo-sapiens.net
 
There is a lot wrong with this shot. The light was uneven and left the water looking drab. I couldn't shoot at the bird's level, having to stay up about 8 feet above the water level. This is a significant crop, as well. Still, there's something about the unusual position of the bird pulling the fish out of the water that I like. I have dozens of GBH hunting pictures, but nothing quite like this. So, I'm wondering what others might think. I often remember my own experiences of taking a shot and get attached to it from the good memories standpoint, making it hard to look at the shot critically. :)View attachment 693
Great perspective!👍👍👍
 
I think it's a great shot, but I can see the comment made about a few areas that have blown out namely the neck, the side of the face & areas of the fish but that is a great shot Woody, well done sir (y)
 
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