tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

This was shot last March in the Glades just below Tallahassee.Finally go to do something with it yesterday. I'm not a birder but found this shot interesting and a beautiful bird .Open to critiques.

thought the setting lend itself to the bird

Nightski

I love this shot, TW, but I think it's a little crooked and some things could be done with the lighting to make it pop a little more

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

any suggestions .I too thought it needed something more but what.

photoninja1 Loc: Tampa Florida

I respectfully disagree. Opening the shadows more will add emphasis there and detract from the subject; and adding light to the subject will blow out the delicate detail there. What else would you do with the light? As for it being crooked: No visual clues really support that. In fact, the vertical line of the stump tend to indicate that the camera is level. The skew in the line of the stream just means that the camera angle was oriented a bit upstream. The only issue I would like to address is that I'd like to see a little more headroom above the stump. I think the shot captures the essence of the swampy environment, and beautifully manages the entire dynamic range. The composition is strong with appropriate positioning of the subject and the line of the stream bed a leading line to the center if interest. If anything, perhaps bringing out the detail in the water and vignetting will help focus the viewer's attention.

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

thanks appreciated

Nightski

I like a subtle vignetting idea. I wonder if the highlights on the tree could be toned down? I'm very new at pp, so please understand I am guessing.

On the leveling. I have a photo, that I love. In fact my Aunt and Uncle love it so much they are having it printed for their bedroom wall. But every time I look at it, I feel like I didn't quite get the leveling right. I've monkeyed with it over and over. It's a shot, where, like this one, the water takes up a triangle of the space. It throws me off. I don't know why I can't get it right in my head.

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

When I read your post about crooked I didn't want to respond ( didn't want to seem to be defending or ungrateful) but seeing that Photoninja opened the subject the first thing I looked at was the bird itself.If i straightened to make the water level the bird would look awkward ,his legs would be leaning forward and because of their weight balance it's almost impossible for them to do so. But I appreciate you commenting

treadwl Loc: South Florida

I took the liberty of downloading the photo and doing a bit of lightroom work on it.

I sharpened the photo, dramatically increased the contrast, and opened up some of the shadow black holes. This all gave the image a bit more pop.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

It needs to be levelled and has a lot of camera movement.
The background competes with the subject and I feel that could be lessened by selectively darkening the stump and rest of the background.
Its not sharp enough to warrant doing anything with but I made a couple of changes so you could maybe see the benefit.
I only did 2 things.
I selectively darkened the background and, I tilted it 2 degrees anticlockwise then cropped back to rectangular.
Even though the image is still soft and blurry I think it looks heaps better. The bird pops more and is more prominent in theimage and the shore of the swamp is a much better angle. Could probably even go another degree.