Critique Posing Snowy

[gchappel]

I am going through images from earlier in the year.
I would find some light, wait, and hope an actor would come.
This snowy egret hoped onto the stick, smiled for his picture, and went on his merry way.
These birds are beautiful creatures.
Gary

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[dburanich]

Very nice.
You must have quite a bit of patience waiting for the right moment.
I think this is very worthy of being featured.

 

[Allan]

A personality of the bird shows up.

 

[gchappel]

Very nice.
You must have quite a bit of patience waiting for the right moment.
I think this is very worthy of being featured.

Thanks so much. I actually did not get to shoot as much this year as usual. My mom has been quite ill, and we lost her last week. But the time I did have to shoot seemed to work. Maybe I am shooting smarter, maybe I am just getting lucky.

A personality of the bird shows up.

They do have personalities. I would be quite pleased if some of that comes through. I feel the subject, be it a bird, a person or a mountain has a personality. Jay Maisel called it the gesture. I believe a good bird image is like a good human portrait. The picture needs to say something about the subject.
Thanks again
Gary

 

[Mike Buckley]

Thinking of you and your family about the recent loss of your mother.

Absolutely gorgeous image. I especially like the grey and white tones in the subject.

For me, I'd like to see separation everywhere between the branch and the background to take the image to the next level. It's possible that that separation exists in a larger image, but when viewing this small image on my calibrated monitor, that separation is lacking on most of the bottom side of the branch. The separation might not be important to you, which would be understandable.

 

[Jeff1]

Great picture! The bird really stands out against the dark B/G. I’m looking at the pic on my ipad and I still see good feather detail.

 

[Mike Delgado]

Simplicity makes a great picture sometimes. I like this one but I detect a small amount of blue cast.

 

[gchappel]

Thinking of you and your family about the recent loss of your mother.

Absolutely gorgeous image. I especially like the grey and white tones in the subject.

For me, I'd like to see separation everywhere between the branch and the background to take the image to the next level.

Mike, thanks for the thoughts. She is in a better place.

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I really appreciate your critiques, they are in depth and helpful. I am too close to my images sometimes and do not see the forest for the trees. I reworked the image to get as much out of the branch as I could. There was little there. The light was directional and harsh and although it gave me a wonderful image, it had little latitude for shadow detail. Here is all I can get out of the branch- it is I think a little better?
Thanks again.

 

[gchappel]

Simplicity makes a great picture sometimes. I like this one but I detect a small amount of blue cast.

I was always taught if something doesn't add to the picture, it takes away from the picture. I have a hard enough time dealing with a few details, so I try to keep it simple.
This light is surprisingly blue on the shadow side. Here is what it looks like with that corrected. LMK what you think. Again, I am often too close to my own work to see some of this- in real life the backside of the bird was bluish. LMK what you think. Thanks
Gary
Corrected white balance:

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[Mike Delgado]

Looks good.

 

[dossy]

Beautiful image!

 

[Mike Buckley]

Both of the last two versions look really good. Though eliminating the bluish tone in the shadow area of the bird looks nice, I wonder if leaving it there is a more accurate depiction of the light that was in the scene. As an example, shadow tones of snow appear blue if the sky is blue and I suspect the same would be true of the shadow tones of the white feathers. I noticed the blue shadow tones but didn't mention them for that reason.

 

[gchappel]

Mike, and others, thanks again.
The shadows were actually blue, as originally depicted. Although real and correct, I suspect many people would think something is wrong with the blue tingue, which is quite apparent once removed. I will likely go between these two, leaving a little blue cast but less than in the original.
Bringing more detail and attention to the branch helped as well. A couple of test prints and I think this one is ready to go.
I really appreciate a place I can get some feedback and pointers outside of the family.
Gary

 

[drr1531]

Yet another excellent image, Gary. Of course the details on the bird are excellent and I love the subtle color in the BG. Well done.

 

[Binnur]

Sorry about your mother Gary. I really like the last version, great image!