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I don't normally get excited by photographing chicks but these were the exception. I just wonder if the out of focus area at the bottom of the image is too much. What do you think?
Spotted Sandgrouse chicks
- Thread starter Gongster
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I don't normally get excited by photographing chicks but these were the exception. I just wonder if the out of focus area at the bottom of the image is too much. What do you think?
First that's a super cool image and amazing how well they blend into the sand. But the eyes pop and once you find them you can't help but see all three of them.
Yeah, I'd probably lose some of the foreground. Maybe just as simple as cropping to a 4x5 (8x10) aspect ratio? If that doesn't bring it in to focus closer on the birds I might try a 16x9 aspect ratio crop and turn it into landscape orientation.
A little selective sharpening on the eye of the right hand bird might help.
But cropping some of the foreground will not only remove a lot of the out of focus foreground but it will also move the chicks lower in the frame which seems appropriate for ground nesting birds.
As always, but especially with an image this bright I'd add a very subtle vignette once it was cropped and composed as desired.
Yeah, I'd probably lose some of the foreground. Maybe just as simple as cropping to a 4x5 (8x10) aspect ratio? If that doesn't bring it in to focus closer on the birds I might try a 16x9 aspect ratio crop and turn it into landscape orientation.
A little selective sharpening on the eye of the right hand bird might help.
But cropping some of the foreground will not only remove a lot of the out of focus foreground but it will also move the chicks lower in the frame which seems appropriate for ground nesting birds.
As always, but especially with an image this bright I'd add a very subtle vignette once it was cropped and composed as desired.
Last edited:
Kathy G
Well-known member
Gongster, I am playing with a crop by moving the photo up and down my screen (it does not fit on my screen). When I remove most of the bottom and see a landscape orientation the eyes of the birds really pop and grab one's attention.
DR and Katy, thanks for your thoughts, I have changed it to landscape and cropped to 16x9.
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Kathy G
Well-known member
Love it!
DR, I was driving around a desert in Morocco looking for the Sandgrouse. I spotted the hen bird first who was in no hurry to fly away, then I spotted she had chicks with her. All the photos I took of mother and chicks were taken from the window of our hire car! I've always found that a car makes a wonderful hide.