Waiting for Dinner: Please make recommendations and ideas to improve. Happy holidays to everyone.

jam Loc: Beaufort, NC

Please make recommendations and ideas to improve. Happy holidays to everyone.

Mr. B Loc: eastern Connecticut

jam,
I like it just the way it is.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

I don't see any pressing need to change anything Jody.
But seeing as you want suggestions, maybe crop a fraction off the left side to bring the bird a little closer to the edge.
Make the lights disappear.
Unprocess the orange a fraction to take it back to, or find, a more natural hue.
Is that a Cokin filter or a software one?

jam Loc: Beaufort, NC

lighthouse wrote:

I don't see any pressing need to change anything Jody.
But seeing as you want suggestions, maybe crop a fraction off the left side to bring the bird a little closer to the edge.
Make the lights disappear.
Unprocess the orange a fraction to take it back to, or find, a more natural hue.
Is that a Cokin filter or a software one?

I did not use a filter. That was the color at sunset. Thank you for the comments

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Well using the word filter may be splitting hairs.
So this is not post processed at all?
No contrast, saturation, shadow, tone, clarity, vibrance, curves, dodging, burning, no nothing?

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

lighthouse wrote:

I don't see any pressing need to change anything Jody.
But seeing as you want suggestions, maybe crop a fraction off the left side to bring the bird a little closer to the edge.
Make the lights disappear.
Unprocess the orange a fraction to take it back to, or find, a more natural hue.
Is that a Cokin filter or a software one?

I also do not see any need for changes, other than the lights, which I frankly did not even notice at first because I went straight to the bird. I wouldn't even change the crop since I think it's perfect, and I love the orange light whether it's added or not. The one thing I do see, and I see it often, and I don't know enough yet to know precisely what causes it but it does bother me some, is the fringing around the bird. The bird is absolutely wire sharp (yay!) but surrounding the entire body is a thin light orange line. It's not a killer, and it may just be a fact of digital life, but it's just mildly bothersome. I suspect it happens in post, maybe from sharpening.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

Simple, but effective composition and presentation. A pleasing photograph. 8-)

jam Loc: Beaufort, NC

lighthouse wrote:

Well using the word filter may be splitting hairs.
So this is not post processed at all?
No contrast, saturation, shadow, tone, clarity, vibrance, curves, dodging, burning, no nothing?

Sorry I did use contrast, vibrancy and shadow reduction.

jam Loc: Beaufort, NC

Chuck_893 wrote:

I also do not see any need for changes, other than... (show quote)

I will be away from my computer for the holidays and will try some of the things you mentioned. I to noticed the fringe and was wondering how to remove it. Any help anybody could give on this would be appreciated.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

jam wrote:

I will be away from my computer for the holidays and will try some of the things you mentioned. I to noticed the fringe and was wondering how to remove it. Any help anybody could give on this would be appreciated.

I think its a lovely photo, well composed and captured with a story to tell. I too would get rid of the lights. It seems a smidgen off level going down on the right, but it may just be the water line itself. I fight bird-fringing a lot, and had one posted last week where everybody pitched in to help. The best results were from Wendy2 who spent an inordinate amount of time trying to help me. I could not achieve her results even with her giving me the steps. I shoot RAW only, so my images have to have some processing to be anything at all. And of course the processing induced the fringing around the dark bird against the lighter background. What I ended up doing was this: layered two versions of the image, one with processing for contrast/clarity,sharpness and one with no adjustments at all. I masked out about 80% of the processed version right over the bird and his fringing. That eliminated the most noticeable fringing. It isn't a technique that I've ever seen written anywhere, so I'm sure there are better ways, but it worked for me.

Nightski

Jodi, you captured a beautiful sunset, that's for sure. The first thing that I notice after the color though, is that the foreground grass is oof. This can be a problem when there's a breeze and you're shooting in low light. The other thing that bothers me is that you can see urban on the other side of the lake. I don't want to see urban when I'm looking at a peaceful lake scene. It might be something you want to keep in mind when framing up a shot like this. Always be aware of everything in your frame.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I like the way you have composed this and I like the color of the sunset reflected in the lake. The out of focus grass doesn't bother me either since it isn't what your point of focus is. The bird is in crisp focus and that is what counts. I would as others have already suggested get rid of the lights peeping through the trees.
Very nice.

wildconc2001 Loc: Chicagoland

I would enlarge the original sans processing corrections and see if that fringing still exists. The use of the shadow reduction has been known to cause a bit of that. It's a nice shot and if you have no plans for sizable enlargements , it should be fine the way it is.

Emm5

jam wrote:

Please make recommendations and ideas to improve. Happy holidays to everyone.

Very nice the bird gets all the attention here.
Merry Christmas!

hb3 Loc: Texas

Nice image...I would clone out the lights on the left side in the background...