Watching the Creek Flow By

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gaknott

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I just posted this in the wildlife section but also want some feedback on it. I am not happy with the composition but any cropping I tried seemed to hurt the overall scene. The shot here appears a little overexposed compared to what I saw when finishing in PS. Any suggestions on how I could have done a better editing job on it? Or, is it just a poorly composed shot in the camera? Thanks!

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This, to me, is good but not great. The clump of roots to the left of the heron competes heavily for my attention, and mostly wins. If it weren’t for that the photo could be tweaked a little to enrich the light, emphasize the bird, and make it a pleasant critter in its environment photo. The heron is nicely framed by the areas of green foliage, and the foreground water has nice reflections.
 
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JSD said:
This, to me, is good but not great. The clump of roots to the left of the heron competes heavily for my attention, and mostly wins. If it weren’t for that the photo could be tweaked a little to enrich the light, emphasize the bird, and make it a pleasant critter in its environment photo. The heron is nicely framed by the areas of green foliage, and the foreground water has nice reflections.
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Thanks, JSD. I appreciate you thoughts! I , too, was conflicted about the clump of roots. On one hand, it helps set the atmosphere of the scene, but on the other hand it is dominant over the heron. Seems more in focus than the bird even though I was locked on the bird. Thanks again!
 
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Nice moment, but I agree with the thoughts above, a lot going on in that scene that competes with the Heron. The Heron looking out of the frame doesn't help either nor do the very bright highlights on the tree roots and the bird itself.

Generally speaking (and there's always exceptions :) ), if the idea is a 'figure on a landscape' sort of image the landscape should stand alone and the figure should complement the image. If the idea is more of an environmental portrait the subject of that portrait (the Heron) should command a lot of attention and the environment should play backup to the subject. I'd say this image doesn't quite fit into either camp.

The background is nice and soft enough not to draw attention away but in focus enough to give environment clues. It might have been nice to fill a bit more of the frame with the Heron and let the background serve as the environment part. You could try a crop following that idea but it's a pretty deep crop so ideally it would have been good to get there optically or physically if that had been possible.
 
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DRwyoming said:
Nice moment, but I agree with the thoughts above, a lot going on in that scene that competes with the Heron. The Heron looking out of the frame doesn't help either nor do the very bright highlights on the tree roots and the bird itself.

Generally speaking (and there's always exceptions :) ), if the idea is a 'figure on a landscape' sort of image the landscape should stand alone and the figure should complement the image. If the idea is more of an environmental portrait the subject of that portrait (the Heron) should command a lot of attention and the environment should play backup to the subject. I'd say this image doesn't quite fit into either camp.

The background is nice and soft enough not to draw attention away but in focus enough to give environment clues. It might have been nice to fill a bit more of the frame with the Heron and let the background serve as the environment part. You could try a crop following that idea but it's a pretty deep crop so ideally it would have been good to get there optically or physically if that had been possible.
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Thanks for the feedback, DR! I agree with all your (and the above) comments.
 
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gaknott said:
Thanks for the feedback, DR! I agree with all your (and the above) comments.
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DRwyoming said:
Nice moment, but I agree with the thoughts above, a lot going on in that scene that competes with the Heron. The Heron looking out of the frame doesn't help either nor do the very bright highlights on the tree roots and the bird itself.

Generally speaking (and there's always exceptions :) ), if the idea is a 'figure on a landscape' sort of image the landscape should stand alone and the figure should complement the image. If the idea is more of an environmental portrait the subject of that portrait (the Heron) should command a lot of attention and the environment should play backup to the subject. I'd say this image doesn't quite fit into either camp.

The background is nice and soft enough not to draw attention away but in focus enough to give environment clues. It might have been nice to fill a bit more of the frame with the Heron and let the background serve as the environment part. You could try a crop following that idea but it's a pretty deep crop so ideally it would have been good to get there optically or physically if that had been possible.
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Here is a revision I had worked up a few days ago but never finished; just still wasn't grabbing me; too much crop and getting too soft. I think the opportunity was there but I just couldn't get in the position to make it happen. I was in a pontoon boat and could not get closer or move any further around.

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gaknott said:
Here is a revision I had worked up a few days ago but never finished; just still wasn't grabbing me; too much crop and getting too soft. I think the opportunity was there but I just couldn't get in the position to make it happen. I was in a pontoon boat and could not get closer or move any further around.
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One last mod, I think the branch sticking out from the left is a bit distracting (because of it's brightness) and could be cloned out. Maybe the bright area right behind the GBH could be toned down too. I think it might help the bird stand out.
 
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In general, you shouldn't have a subject facing out of the photo when it's near the edge toward which it's facing. Probablt should have swung the camera to the right to have the heron facing into the photo -- unless there was something you really didn't want in the image. Gaknott's version is more appealing to me than the original.
 
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Woody Meristem said:
In general, you shouldn't have a subject facing out of the photo when it's near the edge toward which it's facing. Probablt should have swung the camera to the right to have the heron facing into the photo -- unless there was something you really didn't want in the image. Gaknott's version is more appealing to me than the original.
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Thank you, Woody. I appreciate the feedback.
 
I kinda like the roots. lol I think maybe move the frame right and line up half the root ball on the left pane and let the log end in the water, if that's what it did. Otherwise a closer crop of the bird maybe vertical would have been nice. or both...

again,
<<<<< not a pro
 
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Hut said:
I kinda like the roots. lol I think maybe move the frame right and line up half the root ball on the left pane and let the log end in the water, if that's what it did. Otherwise a closer crop of the bird maybe vertical would have been nice. or both...

again,
<<<<< not a pro
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I agree, Hut. The root ball is one of the things I liked about the scene, but I just didn’t execute very well. The root ball became dominant over the Heron. I am not a pro either and exist to learn and improve! Thanks!!
 
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I also kind of like that knot of roots in the shot but I would consider trying to de-emphasize it by possibly blurring it and darkening or lightening it. As it is, to my old eyes, the roots actually appear to be sharper than the heron (maybe because it's closer). Have you tried a non-photo ratio crop that would put the roots closer to the left edge but still keep everything to the bird's right? Yes, that will put the bird more to the center of the composition and you're not supposed to like that but you don't have to keep it if you don't like it. Heck, Moose Peterson puts his subject right smack in the center quite often and he seems to be making a living at it.
 
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DripDryMcFleye said:
I also kind of like that knot of roots in the shot but I would consider trying to de-emphasize it by possibly blurring it and darkening or lightening it. As it is (to my old eyes) it actually appears to be sharper than the heron (maybe because it's closer). Have you tried a non-photo ratio crop that would put the roots closer to the left edge but still keep everything to the bird's right? Yes, that will put the bird more to the center of the composition and you're not supposed to like that but you don't have to keep it if you don't like it. Heck, Moose Peterson puts his subject right smack in the center quite often and seems to make a living at it.
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Thanks for the reply, DripDry! I will give that a try later. Yes, sometimes rules just get in our way!! I like the Moose Peterson reference; he makes it work!
 
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With a shot like this, for me, I'd first try to make it a vertical, removing anything that pokes into the outer edges with LrC or, most likely, PS. The shot seems to be a bit bland, overall, but you do note that it appears differently here. Perhaps a bit of clarity, not too much, and a bit more black. It's hard to know since I have no idea what you did to it initially. You could also try a curve in PS since you use that. Some individual work on the bird will help it to pop out from the background.
 
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I agree with DripdryMcFleye The sticks seem to be the point of Focus, if the bird were in sharp focus and the sticks were soft the image would improve immeasurably.
Otherwise I think its a rather nice Image!
 
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