wren

Hey.

New to the site. Shoot wildlife. I'll stop typing that soon...

Every now and then I get a shot--or see someone else get a shot--that's a little out of the ordinary but that I or they really respond to--but others don't necessarily.

Thought it would be interesting to post two of those types of shots here, both pre-tripod.

The first is a Carolina wren. Single point focus fell on the same plane as his eye (though not on it--all luck). Otherwise there was camera movement.

Second is a cattle egret, soft focus all around, and yeah, it makes me a little anxious that nothing is sharp, yet somehow I really like it.

Both unorthodox, but two of my favorite shots I've ever taken.

More looking to get a sense of how people respond to the aesthetics of both--both positively and negatively--rather than technical advice.

Thanks.
Brett

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By unorthodox, do you mean lacking in contrast?
I like the wren very much but might still crop it a bit more....the framing, dynamics and background are better than the centered egret. The lack of sharpness as you admit is not as much an issue with me as as is the low contrast. For the wren, both blacks and whites can be brought up based on the histogram.
Oddly, I like the background of the egret but the stance of the bird doesn't do much for me.

#1 is great. I agree with Spike44 on the contrast adjustment. I tweaked it in CS4 along with sharpening the eye.
If you invoke IMAGE EDITING OK in your profile, others can post their ideas of PPing.

Hey Spike/WP.

I remember when processing the wren that I first tried more contrast but thought it detracted from the kind of painterly, dreamy tone of the image. And though the camera movement was an obvious error, I don't so much admit to the lack of sharpness as acknowledge it, as it's what makes the shot for me.

The egret was taken very quickly from my car (engine running and in the middle of the road). I don't see the bird as being centered, though I didn't crop to bring the bird further to the left to retain the few IDable individual tall weeds and the patch of sky, since so much of this one, to me, is about the layers of landscape and the DOF they provide.

Not discounting your observations/opinions. Just explaining my preferences/choices.

I just adjusted the contrast on the wren and still like the original, but maybe I'm just stuck on it. That's part of why I'm interested in hearing what others think.

I'll allow IE on my profile as well. If you don't post your adjusted version, WP, I'll eventually post mine.

Thanks x2 again.
Brett

Forgot to mention that I'm color-blind, so we'll never know how differently we're seeing the same image.

Brett
I agree with the overall look you're talking about. The thing that I wanted to try and do was sharpen the eye, as it was the one element that really brought out the camera shake. Tweaking the contrast a little made the image a little less flat. It's a really nice image either way though.

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Well gosh... That eye looks awesome.

As of now, I'm still only using Canon's DPP for processing so I couldn't get it any sharper than I did. Nice to see what I might be able to do some day.

As for the contrast, yes, immediately it gives the shot more depth. I just have to decide if it's worth the cost in mood/tone next time I print this one.

Thanks very much for taking the time to experiment with and post it.

For what it's worth, with the eye sharpening, I magnified to 400 percent and cloned out the blurred catch light parts that were at 2 o'clock and 7 o'clock, then applied local sharpening to the eyeball and lower lid.

Great photo and windpigs edit rocks!!

Thanks Gary

They're all great.

David

Far too much motion blur for me to enjoy the first one, even after windpig's edit. Definitely needed a much faster shutter speed.

The motion blur was the first thing I noticed, but then the 'postcard' quality of the first picture made that almost irrelevant. I prefer the edit with the clear eyes,but the picture still excellent in my view.

On #2 the foreground grass seems to draw my eye away from the subject, so I am not as fond of that one.

I'm rather partial to the original wren. As a stand alone image, I'm not thrilled about the crop, and would take some from the top or bottom depending on what was around the picture when it is printed and displayed. Unless you had images around it where this crop fit in the scheme. Hope that made sense.

Really like the soft feel for the egret. felt the right side of the image wasn't needed though to keep that feel. Below is a 1:1 crop. Again, I am basing crop on how you could display it on a wall, desk, etc. You could take some more off the left, and not take as much off the top and bottom, to keep it vertical.

Thanks, everyone; this is fun/interesting to read. I'll have to find and post two more that work for me despite themselves.

As for cropping, though I do do it almost always (only have 400mm), my goal is to frame the shot properly while shooting and to maintain the original dimensions.