Lighter or darker? Any other critiques are requested, as well.
W
Which do you prefer? GBH in flight.
- Thread starter Whiskeyman
- Start date
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Lighter or darker? Any other critiques are requested, as well.
W
Laurent Dieu
Active member
I prefer the darker version. Light is way better on this one, the feather looks also better.
Laurent.
Laurent.
I prefer the darker one. The eye pops more and there is more detail in the feathers. If this has been cropped and there is available space to the right, I would consider reframing the shot so he is flying into the frame vs. being centered. If this is "as shot", good job on filling the frame! Nice shot!
Considering that we are looking to small JPGs in a forum front end that - depending on the OS and the browser - may or may not use color profiling I would prefer the darker version, also because of the structure in the bright areas at the shoulder.
However, if it comes to printing I would probably take the other one. My friend has to get lots of prints of his photos regurlarly and he is getting best results if processing the pictures for screen first, then do a second version with the same setting but +0,25 to 0,3 stops brighter for printing and order it without automatic print optimization. I have see pictures on his and my computer with the print beside it and I can confirm his results.
However, if it comes to printing I would probably take the other one. My friend has to get lots of prints of his photos regurlarly and he is getting best results if processing the pictures for screen first, then do a second version with the same setting but +0,25 to 0,3 stops brighter for printing and order it without automatic print optimization. I have see pictures on his and my computer with the print beside it and I can confirm his results.
Thank you for the insight. Wouldn't the exposure change to take to print also be dependent upon the brightness of the monitor, though? Overall, I absolutely agree with the direction you're going toward. I prefer my prints a bit lighter than photos viewed on a monitor.
W
Thank you, and thank you again for the specific points of your critique. That type of detail really helps. And to show how much the original frame was filled, here is another photo take immediately before the one posted above:
So there is room to move the subject around in the frame when processing it.
W
Thank you. In what region of Florida do you reside? I'm in the area north of Destin. There are spots around here with a lot of GBhs, but more and more habitat is being lost to development.
W
Geezer
New member
We live east of Panama City in an area called The Forgotten Coast. Nearby are St. Joseph's Bay, Gulf beaches and hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness, including the Apalachicola National Forest. Hurricane Michael caused much damage here so any ongoing development was mostly diverted to reconstruction, which is still ongoing. Although not likely as rich as other parts of the state, the opportunity for wildlife photography is quite good here and should be for some time to come.
Then you are a short drive from St. Mark's aren't you? That area, and east to the Big Bend, is one of the areas I'm looking at for retirement. (I like the lack of development.) Hopefully, you either didn't have much damage from Michael or have managed to get everything repaired. I was shocked at the devestation rendered by Hurricane Michael, to both natural and artificial elements.
I've been meaning to get to St. Mark's with my camera for a while. One of these days...
W
Geezer
New member
We are about a half mile from the bay, so we were unaffected by Michael's storm surge. Since we had no experience with that type of weather we left a day before the storm and spent a few days in Gainesville. It was heartbreaking to see the damage when we returned. We were very lucky, we only lost fencing that was due for replacement anyway.
Much of the area to the east, all the way over to the Big Bend, is protected and undeveloped (national forest and state WMAs). There are small towns along the coast with maybe one supermarket and of course a Dollar General. 'Real' shopping has to be done in the larger cities. For us the closest is Panama City. As you move further east you will transition to Tallahassee and possibly Crawfordville (Publix, Walmart) which is closer to St. Marks.
St. Marks NWR is around an hour and a half to the east of us. We've been there twice in the last few years, in January and May. Birdlife was much more plentiful in January, although there were a number of photo opportunities on each visit, most right from the main road. The refuge is currently open but according to their website the very nice visitor center and lighthouse are still closed. If you're interested I can give you a list of the wildlife that I photographed there.
Cheers, Steve
Much of the area to the east, all the way over to the Big Bend, is protected and undeveloped (national forest and state WMAs). There are small towns along the coast with maybe one supermarket and of course a Dollar General. 'Real' shopping has to be done in the larger cities. For us the closest is Panama City. As you move further east you will transition to Tallahassee and possibly Crawfordville (Publix, Walmart) which is closer to St. Marks.
St. Marks NWR is around an hour and a half to the east of us. We've been there twice in the last few years, in January and May. Birdlife was much more plentiful in January, although there were a number of photo opportunities on each visit, most right from the main road. The refuge is currently open but according to their website the very nice visitor center and lighthouse are still closed. If you're interested I can give you a list of the wildlife that I photographed there.
Cheers, Steve
This is also my favorite both for composition and light. This picture is also a perfect candidate for Steve's PS method for gently smoothing out backgrounds - it would increase the focus on the bird without completely eliminating the background which is part of the story here - that would also allow you to fine tune the lighting in the background to increase how the bird pops out, which is already really good.