Choose Favorite Pic: First Ever In Flight & Nest-Osprey, hand held - also need advice

Choose Favorite Pic: First Ever In Flight & Nest-Osprey, hand held - also need advice... C & C welcome....

#1. Osprey in flight - diagonal

Nice series John, my favourite is the vertical in flight shot because of the great detail in the wings (and the bluer sky). They are all very good, and those nests look huge.

Nice series John. I like the diagonal one. Portrait shots just seem too tall for me. The others are to contrasty. I wish there was an easy way to change a sky.

sugarzebra wrote in post #3248962
Nice series John, my favorite is the vertical in flight shot because of the great detail in the wings (and the bluer sky). They are all very good, and those nests look huge.

Thanks for the feedback sugarzebra... I'm just starting to deal with these big birds... your observations will help me work on these some more...

canonloader wrote in post #3249022
Nice series John. I like the diagonal one. Portrait shots just seem too tall for me. The others are to contrasty. I wish there was an easy way to change a sky.

Thanks Mitch... I had no idea how to handle the clear sky... When the male and female took off in different directions, I couldn't find them in the viewfinder and when I did, they would fly away, and over tree tops in the distance...

The third baby Osprey kept it's head up for just a couple of minutes...

I'll try to repeat the post processing on the white sky photos...

These were all shot in RAW... so there is room for some work on them...

Thanks to those who so far were able to vote in the POLL...

Your vote will help me improve on my objective to capture and process the better images of these great birds...

If you haven't cast a vote, by all means, please do... I'm aiming to maintain awareness within my community development to protect these birds and the nest from vandalism... My photos are forwarded to our community office for documentation...

#1-the diagonal.
Karen

I think the sky is the big difference John

#1

pttenn wrote in post #3250855
#1-the diagonal.
Karen

Thanks Karen...
Very good feedback... The framing and composition matters...
I'll keep it in mind...

hTr wrote in post #3250870
I think the sky is the big difference John

#1

Thanks hTr: Besides shooting in RAW, I also shot "Bracketed" in sets of three shots per attempt at a good capture...

These birds are so fast in the air, that the composition of the photo changes (pardon the pun) on the fly...

I'll try to find time shortly to go back and search for better sky RAW files or try again to Post Process these same images...

Just met with our local community administrators... We are going to submit some of the Osprey photos from this shoot to our publication committee...

Although we won't disclose the location of the nest... we just might call the Fledgling Osprey as our newest member of our community and publish the pics in the July publication (circulation 4,600).

Your votes are real helpful to me... It will give me a better idea of what will look good in print...

PS: Luckily, so far my past pictures have gotten large sections of either the front page or back page of the 24 page issue...

Any additional suggestions for post processing (sharpening, contrasts, Noise Ninja, etc.) would greatly be appreciated...