Critique Great Crested Grebe (Take #2)

rpsmith79

rpsmith79

Messages
1,796
Name
Rich
Edit My Images
Yes
Well after my previous endeavour into documenting the progress of this years Great Crested Grebe pair at my local pond, i though i'd give it another go in some slightly better weather, still no courting action yet, but see what you think to this set

As always, critique welcomed

#1


Great Crested Grebe by RichPICings, on Flickr

#2


Great Crested Grebe by RichPICings, on Flickr

#3


Great Crested Grebe by RichPICings, on Flickr

#4


The Look Of Love by RichPICings, on Flickr

#5


Perfect Pair by RichPICings, on Flickr

I was a bit unsure of #3, as i have read many times that you should aim to get eye contact when photographing wildlife, but the Grebe doesn't half look odd when you do get eye contact, so what is the rule for birds........ eye contact or not??
 
Anyone one....... no one............ can i hear an echo............ echo............ echo
 
Nice to get the images, I guess at this time of the year everyone is hoping for the mating rituals of these lovely birds so anything else goes unnoticed :)
Eye contact needn't be both eyes, it can look a bit unusual when they are both staring at you so I think from that respect all of your images are fine ... pretty clean shots with detail, #3 4 my favourite :)
 
Last edited:
Cheers Gramps, thanks for taking the time to comment

I always struggle with the eye contact thing, but it seems i'm at least going in the right direction so far this year............... just need to keep plugging away at getting that all import mating ritual shot, at least this pairing are very local to me, and the pond they reside in isn't huge so i can always get to the opposite bank if needed, which certainly helps to keep the shooting distance down and the IQ up
 
There is a little softness to some of the images Rich .......I know there is shallow DOF in #4 and #5 .....
I see this softness quite often in the images of GCG that I take especially in the feather detail ...... I have never really identified why, but I think that you need really good light falling on the bird at a favourable angle to bring out the best in images of this bird
IMHO your compositions are good and typical of what we all see
I would chose #2 as the best

keep plugging away and they generally make good subjects as they are too too "phased" by us

I have never really taken a shot of a GCG that I am happy with .....
 
Last edited:
Someone i know said exactly the same about GCG, they seem very hard to get in sharp focus, what you say about the light could well be the key

And cheers for commenting, it's all good for the learning curve

I always seem to find myself asking the same questions though regards sharpness/DoF etc, do i close the aperture down one step and risk more noise due to ISO, do i take off the 1.4x TC and lose some detail in the cropping (these were all taken with a 300mm f4 with 1.4x, with minimal cropping)

I was shooting from a small travel tripod, so i suppose i could have got away with slowing the shutter speed a little, but i was already down to 1/350th and at a theoretical 600 odd mm, even on a tripod, i didn't want to drop that much more
 
A decent set Rich,not sure about the time of day you took these,they seem a bit warm so it may have been around sunset.Here is a slightly diferent take on the processing for what its worth.

16731894850_b4c65573e7_o_zpshrptwylj.jpg
 
I'm always amazed how people come up with totally different takes on processing a shot, so thanks for that, i really like that one

Any you were correct, they were taken early evening, just before sunset
 
No2 is the best shot in my opinion, decent focus and exposure and an interesting pose. I usually struggle with exposure with Grebes, together with ripples on the water and the white chest it can be challenging getting the shot right. Rich"s edit just shows the potential of your shots.
 
Cheers everyone, and yes, #2 was my favorite of the bunch too, glad a few of you agree ;)

Looks like i still need a little extra work on my processing skills though :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top