Heron: opening background debate please read and comment

oskanoears

oskanoears

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Andy
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Im fairly new to shooting birds and the following images are by no means award winning...what I want to discuss bring up us the difference the colour of the background can have against your bird shots the shot itself I dont consider to be a keeper and would have been binned however i decided to experiment after a friend of mine took a bull finch against a blue sky tother day and it seemed to have no impact... dropping in a grey sky from my sky stock really made a difference... when I opened this up I could see it really lacked something... yes the light was crap and yes he could have been chomping a fish etc... but how much difference does that background make to the impact of your shot and if so learning this valuable lesson could give our images that boost we desire to set it apart and make it stand out.

for this shot i opened the cropped image in cs3 clicked colour range and picked a few points on the reeds and then used the colour adjustment to drag the greens up... then threw a frew filters at it from nik software just for fun.. the original has only a crop no sharpening etc and the later is overprocessed but done so to highlight the difference.

Your thoughts on this would be most appreciated. cheers Andy

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:agree: Anyone who knows about reed beds will know they are never green like that, so it's just completely false looking.
 
kaz10 said:
the second one just looks to false to me I don t like it at all the first is a more natural shot
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"but how much difference does that background make to the impact of your shot and if so learning this valuable lesson could give our images that boost we desire to set it apart and make it stand out.

for this shot i opened the cropped image in cs3 clicked colour range and picked a few points on the reeds and then used the colour adjustment to drag the greens up... then threw a frew filters at it from nik software just for fun.. the original has only a crop no sharpening etc and the later is overprocessed but done so to highlight the difference"

Karen, its meant to look overcooked the picture is not the question its the background colour issue im raising.
I know the first one is natural but I also know it lacks any pop which as stated could be as a result of background thus me mentioning the bullfinch and background in the original text.

Thanks for your feed back but think maybe my text preceding the images wasnt clear or you misunderstood it maybe?
Thanks Andy
 
Jo said:
:agree: Anyone who knows about reed beds will know they are never green like that, so it's just completely false looking.
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Hi Jo I also believe you may have misinterpreted the purpose of the post... whether its false looking or not is irrelevant for this exercise the purpose of the post is to point out the difference the background had against the bird itself...

Seemingly a colourful bird requires a dull background and a dull bird requires colour to give dimension to the shot.

Cheers Andy
 
Well of course some images will not look so good with different backgrounds thats why we put in the work to seek out the backgrounds that will make the difference and the light plays a big part in the shot to but I still don t really understand what you mean because you couldn t change the colour of that background because thats how it is,I am probably being a bit thick here but I don t understand what you are trying to do,just ignore me lol
 
kaz10 said:
Well of course some images will not look so good with different backgrounds thats why we put in the work to seek out the backgrounds that will make the difference and the light plays a big part in the shot to but I still don t really understand what you mean because you couldn t change the colour of that background because thats how it is,I am probably being a bit thick here but I don t understand what you are trying to do,just ignore me lol
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Hi Karen your not being thick im probably just not explaining it properly for e.g. if I visit your bird website the backgrounds are right on the images because youve taken the time to ensure the background is correct... your bullfinches for eg look great on that background but had you have shot them against blue they would have lost the pop they have...

The heron shot iv shown was shot from a hide last weekend id spent some 4 hours to no avail and the place usually filled with birds was deathly quiet.. wanting to make the most of the 12 images i came home with I looked at this image and whilst its clearly a heron it lacks any pop against the backdrop or any drama because its just sat still...as herons do.. based upon me swaping a background on a friends bullfinch image I decide to see what impact if any changing the background could or would have against a grey bird and if it made the bird pop more in the image..
am I making any more sense or just rambling like a man possessed???:wacky:
 
I think I understand what you are trying to say. That whatever the background colour is, (good or bad) does it enhance the heron in the picture. Well I have to say no (in this case) Firstly no one will just look at the bird, I tend to take in all the picture, then focus on the main item/creature/car whatever. With a background like this it takes a lot from the main purpose (the Heron in this case) and does nothing to enhance this. In fact, a blurred BG (bokeh) would be more flattering to the main subject and one that most Togs would try to achieve. Try PP bokeh to see if it suits, it wont in every case.
 
wontolla said:
I think I understand what you are trying to say. That whatever the background colour is, (good or bad) does it enhance the heron in the picture. Well I have to say no (in this case) Firstly no one will just look at the bird, I tend to take in all the picture, then focus on the main item/creature/car whatever. With a background like this it takes a lot from the main purpose (the Heron in this case) and does nothing to enhance this. In fact, a blurred BG (bokeh) would be more flattering to the main subject and one that most Togs would try to achieve. Try PP bokeh to see if it suits, it wont in every case.
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Hi Baz I did try this PP but couldnt make it look right.. for shooting purposes had I been closer to my minimum focal distance f5.6 would have thrown the background out fairly well and given me a good bokeh anyhow.. sadly this image is at 500mm and still heavily cropped thus my DOF is not as i would have chosen... ultimately I think the answer here is your background colour can make a difference to your shot ... ie shooting a heron against a grey sky would have yielded an equally poor image as does shooting bumble bees against a blue one etc etc and in this instance there is no rescue for the shot unless im putting it in a pictoral dictionary as what is a heron!
silk purse, sows ear and all that...
Ta Andy
 
Possibly the only background to make the Heron 'pop' would be a white one?
 
wontolla said:
Possibly the only background to make the Heron 'pop' would be a white one?
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dunno... Im now gonna search flickr for the worlds greatest heron pic and see what makes it great...
il be back with my findings on this
 
oskanoears said:
dunno... Im now gonna search flickr for the worlds greatest heron pic and see what makes it great...
il be back with my findings on this
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OK Im back with the following findings... due to the neutral grey of the heron most backgrounds seem to provide enough separation to produce a decent image however I do note that those shot against reeds as in my image are the weakest of the bunch... now whilst the image is true to its habitat maybe this is natures way of some giving disguise.. or at least demonstrating harmony with its surroundings...in future I shall stun the heron with a taser; stuff and mount it and place it in a variety of locations until it looks right!:D
 
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