A red-tailed hawk in the backyard

Had this dude sit outside our window for at least 15 minutes. The robins and the sparrows weren't too happy, though.

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I love hawks! I've got one tattooed on my shin.

I'm not sure you've got much to hang on to with these shots - unfortunately they've got some things going against them.

1. Comp is pretty cluttered and too centered. The hawk seems out of focus and underexposed (tough lighting). The hawk's head doesn't have the separation you would want, with the tree in the background. Overall a pretty flat feel with not much depth.

2. Better in terms of comp, still looking a little soft and flat. It's a shame the hawk wasn't face the light - you're going to want to bring up the shadows or exposure around its face. Maybe recrop to add more negative space in the upper-left where its looking?

Hope this helps some.

Cheers!

Jeff

Thank you very much for the feedback. Will try to do what you suggested with pic 2 tonight.

A Sharp Shin Hawk I hope!

smallick wrote in post #17594895

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forum: Critique Corner

How does this look? There wasn't much more negative space that I could squeeze out of the pic. I did try lightening up the image a bit, but I'm a novice when it comes to PP work.

Thanks for the feedback

Definitely a step in the right direction, but at this point you're probably recovering so much from the underexposure that the image will start to becoming flat and washed out.

I suggest making this into a "lemons to lemonade" situation. Go overboard with some funky filters/processing and see what you can come up with. You might be able to save it!

Can you PM me a link to the RAW? Maybe I can play around with it.

Cheers,

Jeff

If you don't mind me post processing it, also send me a link to the raw file. I just got done recently saving a picture of a Osprey that was pretty badly underexposed and it came out quite nice. I walked into the bathroom from just crawling out of bed and saw him sitting outside the window in a close tree, then down, up, down and back up flights of stairs I had camera in hand and after all that I pooched the settings.

beavens wrote in post #17598000
Definitely a step in the right direction, but at this point you're probably recovering so much from the underexposure that the image will start to becoming flat and washed out.

I suggest making this into a "lemons to lemonade" situation. Go overboard with some funky filters/processing and see what you can come up with. You might be able to save it!

Can you PM me a link to the RAW? Maybe I can play around with it.

Cheers,

Jeff

iroctd wrote in post #17598059
If you don't mind me post processing it, also send me a link to the raw file. I just got done recently saving a picture of a Osprey that was pretty badly underexposed and it came out quite nice. I walked into the bathroom from just crawling out of bed and saw him sitting outside the window in a close tree, then down, up, down and back up flights of stairs I had camera in hand and after all that I pooched the settings.

Sure, no problem, except that I have no idea how to send a PM - with or without a file attachment
Thanks for showing interest in the photo AND for offering to spend time on it. I really appreciate the offers.

I had to figure out the pm stuff too, clicking on the user name brings you to their page, then on the lower left you'll see "actions you can do" write private message..
And I've been using dropbox.com for all my files, it is free and pretty easy. Once you set it up and upload the file, you can then click on your files, it will show you the list, then clicking on a individual file will show a share button on the right side, then "link to file", copy and paste. You don't have to worry about "sharing" on the left side menu or permissions either.

Sorry, didn't get the time to upload the raw images. But I did get another visit from my winged friend. What do you think I can do for these pics. Got him from a couple of angles. Unfortunately couldn't wait for him to take off since I would love to get one in flight pic.

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Of all of these, I think the third is the strong.

Best lit (still some harsh lighting to deal with), best posed and good sharpness around the beak/eyes.

Would like to see some negative space off to the left where he's looking, and you've got some severely blown highlights to deal with. I've played around a bit, but you'll need to put in some tender loving care from the post side of things to bring the most out of these one.

I brought the eyes up a bit and cropped out the tip of the pole at the bottom.

I hope you've got a regular visitor - these guys are gorgeous!

Nice work. Thanks for taking the trouble to work on this photo. I am not very good at PP. And I don't have too much time to spend on the computer with the photos. So, the only ops i bother with are basic exposure, highlights, shadow, and maybe white balance.

The hawks have been regular visitors for the last few days, or so say my neighbors. I unfortunately seem to miss them. They sure are beautiful birds.

My attempt at an edit of the first set. Not my usual photo subject but thought I would take a stab at it for fun.