Kestrel Critique

[motso]

Hi all,

I've had a bit of a break from photography, but am now back and raring to go! I took this photo of a kestrel back in the summer - any (constructive) critique would be welcomed. I used a pretty basic lens (Sony 75-300mm) - is this evident? I have done a little bit of touching up in LR, can anyone suggest any improvements?

Many thanks

TomView attachment 4387

 

[Pinkbikerbabe]

Nice image, the crit i would offer is i would crop in a bit closer so as we can actually see the bird.

 

[Trev4]

Looking closely I think that you have already done some cropping, and maybe some noise reduction. There's is a lack of fine detail and it is rather soft. To be frank, to get a shot like this you need to either get much physically closer to the bird, or get a longer lens, but naturally that can be an expensive option.
On this shot I like the way you have captured the bird on the top of the dome of rock, that works well. To improve this shot perhaps you could try cropping a bit more as Mandy suggested, including removing some of the wasted space above the bird. Do a small amount of dodging to the eye, and apply some selective sharpening to the bird but be careful not to overdo it. I hope this helps.

 

[motso]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes this image has already been cropped a little, with a touch of noise reduction - it was taken at 210mm so I couldn't really get any closer without disturbing the bird, also I was trying to keep the domed rock but agree that leaves quite a bit of wasted space. It's true any further cropping would really show up the lack of sharpness - am I right to (at least partly) blame this on the lens quality? I limited the picture quality when I posted the image to 1.68MB, would the detail have been better if I had posted the full image resolution (~5MB)? Also, what do you mean by 'dodging', making it blacker? Is it possible to do selective sharpening in LR or can this only be done in Photoshop?

Sorry for all the questions,

Tom.

 

[Trev4]

Please don't apologise for the questions Tom, that's what the forum is all about. I can understand why you used 210mm FL (to keep the dome in the frame) but it would have been better in my opinion to extend the focal length to the full 300mm, taking the bird higher in the frame, which would have added more rock underneath, that would have brought you closer and given more detail in the bird. Its so easy to say all this with 20/20 hindsight vision though. Always focus on the eye, but then you probably already do that. I'm not conversant with the Sony range of cameras and lenses so I cant comment on their quality really. For wildlife generally, a 400mm lens is the best starting point, but having said that, many people get excellent results at 300mm by using their field craft to get closer to their prey.
1.68MB should be ample for web use, I don't think you will gain anything as far as IQ is concerned in this image by uploading a larger file.
Dodging and burning are old terms for lightening or darkening sections of an image during processing. They have been carried through to the digital age and used in Photoshop and other software. Burning is darkening and area, dodging is lightening. There is a similar facility in LR5 but not in earlier versions, its not ideal though and PS handles it far better.
Again a form of selective sharpening can be applied in LR5 but its a bit cumbersome, and in my opinion its more accurate and easier to use on PS.

 

[u8myufo]

Some sound advice has already been given to you Tom so I won`t repeat, still a decent capture given the restriction of distance. Did a crude edit for you to give some idea of how it could just improve slightly.

 

[mex]

I quite like the colours in this shot,the blue sky and the litchen look superb,the subject however does look at bit lost and as Trevor stated it is a little soft.There is no substitute for getting closer to your quarry to get a sharp image,but doing it in reality is totally different and bloody difficult partiularly with birds like kestrels who tend to be very wary anyway.

 

[RedRobin]

Although I totally get and like the composition of the original photo which goes for a central symmetry with the domed rock, I think that Rich's (u8myufo) cropping is faultless and you suddenly have a very strong and very pure composition.

Ideally the bird would have been better if sharper but hey-ho you can't always control these things and you have to try and grab every shot you can - It's all experience and part of a learning curve. For me Rich's crop makes this into a great picture/image and should be a keeper until you can replace it with a more perfect shot.