Brutal Friday Critique - are you ready? Well punk are you?

Hey Harry! This one for me is the best. The other while it is nice to see a sunrise in person I am not sure the capture did it for me. My two cents is you tried to take in too much and there are lots of distractions in that photo - It may have been better if you zoomed in tree with that being the subject vs the entire scene which for me was a distraction and a bit too much.
Cheers!
Scott

Thank you Scott, I appreciate your input.
Harry

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Well, it's Friday, so what better time to return to this thread?!

I have been having opportunities to set up and take this type of small-in-the-frame images shot from a top-down perspective lately. . I would love to see your thoughts on this, as I am racking my brain for ways to do this type of top-down shot better, or differently.

Wood Frog, Lithobates sylvaticus, red morph, on rock with lichens and moss.

Tom, are you dissatisfied with this photo? If so, why? Please give your thoughts on it.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19497341
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Well, it's Friday, so what better time to return to this thread?!

I have been having opportunities to set up and take this type of small-in-the-frame images shot from a top-down perspective lately. . I would love to see your thoughts on this, as I am racking my brain for ways to do this type of top-down shot better, or differently.

Wood Frog, Lithobates sylvaticus, red morph, on rock with lichens and moss.

Hosted photo: posted by Tom Reichner in
./showthread.php?p=194​97341&i=i7980298
forum: Critique Corner

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Lovely tones and colors. It is great that the main subject is well isolated by its color. I like the textures and design of the background here. The quality of the light is excellent even if the quantity is low. The frog looks sharp-ish. There is room for a bit more acutance, I think.

The overall design of a small-in-the-frame composition like this is very simple. The degrees of freedom are placement in the frame and orientation. I think I would have done it like you did. It works fine IMO. However, if you have a bunch like this, they are going to look alike.

Sandhill Crane in Flight

For what it is, a top down and basically 2 dimensional image, I think you did fine with it.

Here is why:
1. The frog is positioned perfectly. Not coming at 90 degrees or 45 degrees or etc. His position and angle is interesting. And he is at 2 intersecting Rule of Thirds lines.
2. The scene says to me he has left the safety of the forest behind him and is faced with crossing a barren plain to get to the juicy food he can see.
3. The color of the frog is a wonderful contrast to the dominate green.,

Other ways to shoot it?
Not top down, but top down was the point. Change the angle of view. Use strobes to create and control the lighting and give the image a different mood.
All of that is likely too involved and impractical to do in the field, and with a live subject.

chuckmiller wrote in post #19497381
... And he is at 2 intersecting Rule of Thirds lines.

The rule of thirds is so overworked and hackneyed now, it should be avoided IMO. Old rules lose their effectiveness. However, it is hard to avoid the rule of thirds - because its terms include so much of the frame. Most interpret it loosely, and then it covers the whole picture area except for the center and the extreme edges.

I think Tom purposely placed the frog a bit off the thirds for this reason. The center wouldn't work well here IMO.

eccotecc wrote in post #19497379
Sandhill Crane in Flight

Hosted photo: posted by eccotecc in
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forum: Critique Corner

Lovely shot of the crane, eccotecc. One could quibble that the light is a bit contrasty and that the bird would interact more with the viewer if it was turned towards us a bit, but it is good as it is IMO. Looks real sharp, and nice out of focus background.

Good job avoiding the rule of thirds. It isn't usually suitable for nature subjects anyway.

One thing I did notice about these photos is the noise. I do have Topaz Denoise, but I want to know how severe it looks to someone else before I process them.

Archibald, Thank you... When photographing birds in flight, I've mentally prioritized certain elements the subject should have before pressing the button. First I need to have catch light in the eye. The subject is perpendicular to the light source when possible. The position of the wings is very important when photographing birds in flight. Lastly, I try to keep the sky out of the capture. This means trying to photograph the bird when taking off or landing. I guess another thought is to keep distance between the subject and background to allow for bocah separation. Thanks again for taking time to comment.

Hi Victoria, Looking at your photos, you might want to consider trying Topaz Sharpen. I would also suggest lightening the eyes a bit by dodging. Nice captures...

Hi Victoria, good photos! I don't think the noise detracts from the images. However, if I want to reduce noise a bit without destroying too much feather detail I use Topaz Denoise AI set to low light, with noise reduction set to 1 and sharpening set to 0. Then, when I sharpen the image, I do it right at the end (after resizing) and make sure I don't sharpen the noise in the background, or out-of-focus areas or dark areas of the subject.

eccotecc wrote in post #19497535
Archibald, Thank you... When photographing birds in flight, I've mentally prioritized certain elements the subject should have before pressing the button. First I need to have catch light in the eye. The subject is perpendicular to the light source when possible. The position of the wings is very important when photographing birds in flight. Lastly, I try to keep the sky out of the capture. This means trying to photograph the bird when taking off or landing. I guess another thought is to keep distance between the subject and background to allow for bocah separation. Thanks again for taking time to comment.

Those are some good points to remember for shooting BIF. It is not often that we get all those factors to fall into place at the same time.

Hey Vic - Nice shots, especially the first. Noise looks pretty good but could benefit a bit from a pass through Denoise. And, as Pippan suggests, then a bit of Topaz Sharpen if you have that one. You might even selectively sharpen just the face. My usual is the 4X Comparison view to find a setting that does a realistic sharpen without bringing up the noise again. Topaz's new Photo AI does a nice integrated job, too.