Steve Sampliner  


a little privacy, please by Steve Sampliner

April 2021 - a little privacy, please

April 2021 - Steve Sampliner

Original

About the Image(s)

Pentax K1 w/ Pentax 150-450. 450mm, f/6.3, 1/3,200 aperture priority, beanbag for support. Location Ayn (spring) Tabraq, about 30km north of Salalah, Oman. Image taken on March 19 around 3:00pm. Post-processing done in LR. Can't quite remember all the little adjustments. Touch of contrast, increased the sharpness, touch of luminosity. Cropped in and placed the bathing white-spectacled Bulbul a bit off-center to the right because the direction it was facing. Had a few ideas for crop ratio and what to keep and what to remove. Any suggestions?


This round’s discussion is now closed!
5 comments posted




Jim Horn   Jim Horn
(Groups 5 & 15)
Steve, we are so fortunate to have you sharing photos of birds and wildlife native to the Middle East. I have never heard of a white-spectacled Bulbul. Your image is spot on for focus and exposure and post-processing. I think you've done the best you could for this mid-afternoon bath. The selection of your crop is good because the rocks anchor it in the foreground. One suggestion is to try for other photos of flapping wings, shaking off water, golden light of sunset.
You caught the droplets of water coming off the wet Bulbul. Well done. Thank you for sharing a unique moment in your part of the world. Jim   Posted: 04/01/2021 10:30:20
 
Hi Jim, thanks for your feedback and suggestions. I spent about 30 minutes concentrating on this little watering hole. I captured the types of photos you mentioned in your suggestions. Very pleased with those, but I just loved the expression captured in this image and thought the image held its own engaging narrative.
I'm glad you mentioned the placement of the rocks in the foreground. I played with the crop and image composition for a while. I like the rocks, but I wasn't sure how it would be viewed by others. I took the same view as you in that the rocks "anchor" the image. I thought that not having them would make the image appear a bit flat because of lack of shadows.   Posted: 04/02/2021 04:29:55



 
Steve, Nice capture!! The rocks are definitely important as an anchor. I would tone them down a bit with an adjustment brush as they are quite hot and add some distraction. Compositionally, I like your choice of crop but I wonder if taking bit more off on the RH side would improve the balance. You could take some from the top if you were trying to provide a specific aspect ratio. Dark birds are a tough subject on which to capture the feather texture, but you have managed to hold them from disappearing into the deep shadow region. Tab   Posted: 04/02/2021 09:57:15



 
Steven I like the tight crop on the photo that you did with the bird slightly offset to the right. Also, the rocks in the foreground help to anchor the photo. The bird's eye is nice and sharp and the water cascading down the feathers adds visual interest to the photo. I do think you lost some of the details in the bird's dark feathers. I did some lightening and sharping using Lightroom adjustments to bring out the details in the feathers and water droplets. Along with darkening the highlights on the rocks. See attached edited photo.   Posted: 04/05/2021 12:48:05
Comment Image



 
Steve

Nice photo. The bird is looking at the camera. It is as if the bird is trying to talk to the photographer!

I like your cropping. Only distraction for me is the stones on the left bottom corner. They are not focused well. Perhaps increasing the contrast only on this area may improve the image (burning and dodging also might help).   Posted: 04/18/2021 05:12:26