Critique The strike...dabchick hunting

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Stu
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I haven't posted much of late,but have been putting in the time when not grafting my butt off,so I have a fair old backlog to address.

We had a ball in a hide recently,I don't often shoot from hides it really felt quite strange being inside photographing outside. I do so admire you guys that tough it out in hides. This youngster (Ibelieve) was completely enchanting and I really enjoyed it's company and exploits learnt so much and got a bucket ful of pics. I so wish I could have been lower,but it really was a blast trying to catch her exploits. i've been hankering for a dabchick shot for eons now,but they have always eluded me. This is one of my favourites it was wonderful how she went into stealth mode so low in the water. I struggled a bit with exposure but she gave me so many chances with such variation I simply couldn't mess them all up. It was so damn cool being right there with her and having so many different types of shot to go for. I would greatly appreciate thoughts and critique. Canon 1Div 300f2.8 1/1600 f5.6 iso 1250 processed in dpp4 I believe it is a red eyed damsel that she's/he's chasing. She was really quite good at this although this one escaped and took larger dragonflies as well. As framed,I hope to post a few more as time allows Cheers for all the previous help guys

take care

Stu

_70F7455 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr
 
It's all about the framing and the PP Stu. It's a good shot, but it needs some serious consideration back at the computer. As it stands, much of the subject is lost in the blandness of the water.

To begin with, think about where the action is. In the shot you have posted, it's all happening in the left third - that's where you need to concentrate the crop. Once you have decided upon what you want to convey in the image, the rest is just adjusting the colours, saturation etc until you see something that suits your eye.

I've just done this on the laptop, so it may not work on a proper screen, but here's my five minutes worth which I hope you will find some merit in......

16216-1471480632-1d7908864ca22b4ac546ed48f2e1cda0.jpg
 
It's a great wildlife occasion Stu but I don't think the image does justice to it ... it's like many I have taken which would have been great if everything had come together, (light, angle of view, closeness, focus etc). I take John's point about the crop and though I don't always want my subject to be a frame-filler he is right regarding focussing on where the action is and there is too much negative space to the right.
I am guessing this was a fairly heavy crop already as there is limited detail in the birds feather and it looks to have a sharpening/compression halo that adds to the 'flatness' of the bland water.
I would have been pleased as punch to see and capture this event but I would have rued not having everything come together for it. :)
 
Morning Stu

just as am amusing point, when I first saw the image it looked as if it had swam into a condom ............ (not that I have seen many condoms at my age)

The image looks a little awkward as presented, maybe because of the angle of the shot, looking a little down on the bird, and also the head looks unusual and contorted making the bird look unattractive

But well done to get a shot of the Dragonflies in flight
 
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It's all about the framing and the PP Stu. It's a good shot, but it needs some serious consideration back at the computer. As it stands, much of the subject is lost in the blandness of the water.

To begin with, think about where the action is. In the shot you have posted, it's all happening in the left third - that's where you need to concentrate the crop. Once you have decided upon what you want to convey in the image, the rest is just adjusting the colours, saturation etc until you see something that suits your eye.

I've just done this on the laptop, so it may not work on a proper screen, but here's my five minutes worth which I hope you will find some merit in......

16216-1471480632-1d7908864ca22b4ac546ed48f2e1cda0.jpg
John cheers for the thoughts,for me my image was flawed right off the back of the camera,in that, although I knew she was going to shoot forwards I was in no way fast enough with my tracking,so the negative space is exactly where it shouldn't be. It's some speed she gets at the strike John,,illustrated by the "bow wave"i've never seen this hunting technique before so it was a terrific learning curve. Maybe you guys would know if only the kids do this,I didn't ever see an adult using the same technique. Just this little chap which I will show more of in due course.

John a little side track I really appreciate your time in the repost and comments,that goes for the other lads too cheers guys!!! It's really good for me to have some depth to ponder and a bit of fun too,but more than anything I appreciate the honesty,my mindset is similar to yours on crit John,I feel that is probably shared by Bill and Roger too,I just wanted to emphasise that point and my gratitude.

John i'm unsure on the blue I know it's a quick repost but I do find it a bit over powering maybe the saturation is just a notch too much for my eye,the day was largely cloudy.....scattered,but with sun breaking though,I simply can't remember whether the sun was in or out though,but yes good sir I really get the crop aspect,I may go back and play a bit more with your thoughts cheers buddy,yup great merit I understand what you are getting over.

Roger it is full fame,my concerns in what you have mentioned are the lack of detail you have mentioned and not having seen the halo you spotted,that worries me a bit buddy,I feel the sharpening halo is a lesser worry,as I did add some in dpp where I don't oft go this far,not being aware of it though bugs me and I still can't see it. That should be an easier fix once I can see it. The lack of detail,what would you say that is down to bad technique,wrong settings,or simply too far away for my combo? Of the points picked up here this is my biggest concern mate. Roger I did struggle I'm so used to being able to pick my pov and not only that this higher angle that the hide gave me as the only option I found gauging exposure tricky,basic inexperience in this situation was telling I feel I became very aware early on in the shoot how unfamiliar I was shooting down onto water. It was good fun though mate and i'm sure we'll have another crack .Coming home with lots to sift through is rare for me it was not only cool having her doing what she does which I found enchanting but damn good practice. Very much an alien environment to me mate but still cool it's why I mentioned how much I admire you and Chris for example above

Good evening Bill ahh mate you had me in stitches cheers for that alone!! The pov is utterly not where I want to be mate but my only option I mused this much on looking at this on the computer because the damsel is part of this image and it's reflection. So I did ponder where everything would sit if I was down much lower where I'd really like to have been.

Her stance is strange Bill to me(I'm no expert but I look hard) utterly uncharacteristic for me of dabchick is this what you are picking up on I accept the pov but wonder if one has never seen this would it look strange and contorted?? Normally they have this head up fluffy look, this is almost like a snake bird (Anhinga) to me

She is using a specific hunting technique,I' ve never seen before. Spending hours with her taught me much mate,I didn't know that they squash the air out of feathers before a dive Bill,as an example (there was a terribly learned guy in the hide he knew a bit I mentioned this said watch look he said wow I didn't know that),Once one knows this one can accurately predict a dive. This little fact got me a keeper on this shoot,at . least for my level at this time. Here she's using this technique in part to get very low on the water surface: I think she balancing her bouyancy by the amount of air in her feathers. The frame before this clearly illustrates this head outstretched right on the water surface and slowly paddling forwards with almost no water movement,for the dragon or damsel to percieve . She reminded me of myself stalking a hare,present the lowest possible profile to the target., Her beak is on the water, body all but submerged,proper stealth mode stuff,incredibly interesting to watch and try to work out how this was being achieved.

Cheers lads sorry for the ramble getting one's head around a subject maybe will hopefully get me the shots I dream of...a long long road to travel yet!!!!

take care guys

Stu
 
John i'm unsure on the blue I know it's a quick repost but I do find it a bit over powering maybe the saturation is just a notch too much for my eye
You're welcome Stu! I did push things a bit further than I might have liked myself, but it was really done just to illustrate the point more than anything. ;)
 
Yeah I gotcha John, really appreciate the time and honesty(y) Normally I know what light I shot in but here I suppose time plus not having my senses fully submerged has left me unsure. I remember saying to Shaz this is so weird shooting in sunlight ,but I can't feel it on my back. Very out of my comfort zone John weird being in a wooden box but I feel I learnt much,especially about this little fella . That and the critique will come back to me someday when i'm not 8 or so feet above the water.

cheers

Stu

ps John can you see the halo roger mentioned?
 
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John can you see the halo roger mentioned?
No! Even with Rogers hint I'm stll not seeing it - and that's tilting a laptop screen back and fore which would normally show this sort of thing easilly.

Given that I downloaded a full size jpeg from flicker, I didn't think there had been much pp done at all to begin with.:confused:
 
John Roger,I'm not viewing on a calibrated monitor it's a little dell.I actually have another and larger probably better quality, here,but this one I am used too and crucially seems to be right for colour,so i'm almost scared to change. Anyway the biggy is I am completely unsure on what detail I am able to view ,compared with others.My budget is incredibly tight this is essentially why i asked if you could see the halo John. I would imagine both of you are viewing more detail than I on much higher quality monitors. Guys i'm not moaning I just can't access the tools I'd really like yet and every now and then something crops up which causes me to ask questions such as this.


For the record what I did was drop exposure slightly 0.17 left WB at daylight ( I've been playing with similar images tonight after reading your comments and would alter this probably now via eyedropper).pulled back highlights by one and pulled up blackpoints in gamma 2.67 mid -0.5. I actually thought I had used the sharpening feature in dpp....I don't do that very often ,which is where I thought the halo might be from ,but it appears not so I'm completely confused now??????.

John, roger posted some stunning images recently,I think a black tailed godwit,I picked up on something sort of halo like,but nothing like i'd ever seen before ,some of the other guys could see it,but roger couldn't. I find all this completely perplexing ,but I do know what I use is not the best.

Chaps I'm more battered than normal,rode a ladder down 20 or so feet yesterday so if things are a bit wayward please forgive I am black and blue but frankly can't believe i'm alive let alone nowt broken.. a serious miracle by any standards I'm ok but far from lucid, hence me thinking i'd used more sharpening than normal ,which seems to be a figment of my imagination. It's also the first time anyone has picked up on an image of mine being over sharpened,hence my concerns

any ways many thanks both if nowt else this is a welcome distraction

stu
 
It's a great wildlife occasion Stu but I don't think the image does justice to it ... it's like many I have taken which would have been great if everything had come together, (light, angle of view, closeness, focus etc). I take John's point about the crop and though I don't always want my subject to be a frame-filler he is right regarding focussing on where the action is and there is too much negative space to the right.
I am guessing this was a fairly heavy crop already as there is limited detail in the birds feather and it looks to have a sharpening/compression halo that adds to the 'flatness' of the bland water.
I would have been pleased as punch to see and capture this event but I would have rued not having everything come together for it. :)
Buddy sorry to come back again can't sleep so said stuff it and plugged in newer monitor,the image isn't sharp I reckon motion blur is my shutter to slow to capture that strike??

many thanks mate

Stu
 
1/1600 should be okay Stu, especially with the 300 f2.8 which is generally super sharp.
It happens, especially in the excitement of getting something different, grab at the shutter etc ... the bird has some fine feathers toward the rear, which makes it challenging, but overall should allow detail capture when reasonably close. :)
 
Thanks buddy, I had a good stare last night with my new screen,I can see more,I think now which is wonderful . This is a case of missed focus,it's not the gear Roger definitely my fault. My focus point is just this side of the bird. But all is not lost,although this was my best take on this particular behaviour first up she is close to home,so I can go back,second she gave me a whole lot more on this occassion,so hopefully my next post will be a little better,We'll see.:)

Thanks so much for the help buddy really appreciate it !!!(y)

Stu
 
It's all about the framing and the PP


Not all but…

Even after executing the perfect capture,
inadequate PP may break the shot and
the work done prior to SR.

So John is right in attributing a given level
of importance to PP work… cool edit!
 
Rooban thank you:)

Daniel, how ya doing mate?:) Buddy what do you mean by SR please?

many thanks

Stu
 
Thanks muchly lads We are trying to dig out the very best from that afternoon now...my head hurts but we are making some progress. I find picking out best images far from straight forwards, from some shoots !!!

Stu
 
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