Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks. I was surprised to see I had the ISO at 3200 when I pulled up this image (taken a year ago). Must have been a week of fog and dark and I was desperate for any photo op!

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I really like this shot and I agree coyote. The high ISO ads a little grain to the photo which in this case works. I liked Bills edit until I downloaded it. Too many artifacts around the coyote.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

Hi Linda,

You have an interesting photo which certainly evokes a mood.

I wish to address the composition if I may. Now, keeping in mind that this type of photo opportunity sometimes does not last very long, your composition could have been better had you not had the large dark wood on the left. As that area is darker, clearer, and larger than the coyote, it becomes the main subject with the coyote as a secondary one.

The fix in the field would have been to change the angle, if possible. The fix now would be to crop, but due to the noise (already discussed by you and others) that simply may not be an option.

So you are left with an image that, due to it's mood and mystery, is still quite nice. 8-)

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Linda,

I'm not going to comment on the composition but rather on the camera usage. The first thing I noted was the very HIGH ISO setting. Then I saw the high F-stop and the super fast shutter speed.

My philosophy is to use an ISO only as high as I have to. Many will argue that you can shoot at 400 ISO with no problem but files are better at lower ISO so I shoot as low as I can. I try to work for 200-320 on the ISO level unless conditions demand it. The only things I've ever shot at 3200 ISO are night scenes, sporting events under the lights and other things like that. In y hour case, you could have brought the ISO down 4 full stops to 400. At 400 ISO there would be virtually no noise so that is a win situation. Bringing the ISO down 4 stops would require that you f-stop of f14 could be brought down to f8 (about three stops down) and you could get the other stop by dropping the shutter speed to 2000 or 1000 which would still give you enough to freeze the coyote. The photo looks to have been shot in daylight and you would never need to shoot at 3200 in daylight.

Hope this makes some sense.

Larry

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks so much!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you Bmac, I really appreciate your taking the time to analyze and offer your comments - and yep - 3 hurried shots from the car was all I had available:)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you kindly for your input, Larry. It was actually heavy fog and I'm afraid I don't recall why I had set the ISO that high prior to stumbling onto the scene (the shot is actually a year old). It's always good to be reminded to check settings, though, because I often forget - and I do appreciate your taking the time.

Bram boy Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

such a great shot . and the brush looks like a couple moose carcass that it has been feeding on , well done

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I down loaded this and was dismayed at how much noise was in it when I got it into PSE11, but I like this too much to give up on it so I worked on it and this is what I came up with. I toned down the the woodpile using levels on it only. I darkened the coyote the same way. I ran a gaussian blur of 5.3 pixels on it desaturated it slightly and this is what I ended up with. I think it gives you the feel of him in the fog with out the distracting noise. (I don't know why it doesn't show up in the download)

JC56 Loc: Lake St.Louis mo.

spot on comment....this a beautiful photo...but the noise that awful noise kills a wonderful photo......don't ask me how to fix it............ I'm pp impaired.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Here's the slightly lightened log we talked about. I don't think I made much of a difference, I was hesitant to lighten by very much.

magicray Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

Nice shot Linda. You are lucky he didn't have you for breakfast. The composition is fine. I like the woodpile. It is an important element to set the scene. If you roll the photo up on your PC screen to crop out most of the sky almost to that highest branch the mural effect looks much more dramatic, to me anyway. You do excellent work and it is obvious you love the outdoors. Ditto.
The noise doesn't bother me. I feel it adds to the foggy spiritual aspect I feel when I view it. Sometimes, I think we can overanalyze when it comes to technical perfection, at times forgetting we are talking about art and not engineering. Does the photo have an emotional appeal to the average viewer? Absolutely.

roadking11 Loc: New Martinsville, WV

Hi Linda; I agree that your coyote photo is perfect the way that it is, but I did try enhancing the coyote's face without disturbing the rest of the photo. I selected the face with the lasso tool and used shadows and highlight tool to get a little more definition. Then I used the burn tool to blend in with the rest of the body.

jonsommer Loc: Usually, somewhere on the U.S. west coast.

I know I'm 'coming late to the party' on this one - it's interesting to read along as an idea develops and see suggestions of fellow photographers for improvement - on this one I say leave the sky, it gives that cold, damp and misty feeling to the viewer, so it's an important element. So, of all the suggestions, I like roadkings the best because you now see enough of the coyote's (not fox) face to make eye contact with this predator - and you know that you're being sized up for lunch. Great emotional impact.

Roadking, your avatar makes you look very, very grumpy. Is that really you?

roadking11 Loc: New Martinsville, WV

Not really grumpy, at least most of the time. One friend said it makes me look Amish. It is a few years old, so will have to get an update and see how much change age makes.

Roadking, your avatar makes you look very, very grumpy. Is that really you?[/quote]