Kurtis Sutley  


Border dispute by Kurtis Sutley

May 2023 - Border dispute

May 2023 - Kurtis Sutley

Original

About the Image(s)

This was taken in the Serengeti National Park using a Canon 6D Mk II and a
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L in aperture priority. Shot at f/5.6, ISO 100
@1/500 sec. I took this 5 years ago and if I had known the what I know now,
I would have shot a faster shutter speed. I did basic post processing in
Lightroom Classic before denoise AI. I then exported to Topaz Photo AI for
noise reduction and sharpening. Then I took it into Topaz Studio 2 to add a
filter and boost saturation. Back in Lightroom, I did some dodging and
burning and cropping. I used software that wasn't available when I
originally made the image. A lesson I learned a few years ago was to not
discard my original files.


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




Art Jacoby   Art Jacoby
I like the capture and think that you have done a great job on bring out details and colors. When I went to Africa I didn't even shoot in RAW. I used curves and did some dodging and burning to darken the background and I cropped some too.   Posted: 05/06/2023 14:41:24
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Gabriele Dellanave   Gabriele Dellanave
Excellent action image and capture Kurt. I think that 1/500 time exposition is not that bad, I normally use that speed with car/moto racing and flying airplane. Maybe what would help in this kind of shooting is a tripod. I was in Kenya last October and there was a guy on our vehicle that was shooting mostly birds, with s Nikon and 800 mm long lens. And it was shooting without tripod. I didn't see any of his images but I would be very curios to do that. Also, what camera format are you using Kurt. That's another important consideration, the size of the subject most often is small. In any case to me your image looks pretty sharp. The exposition looks fine, as well as the composition. I busted a little bit the contrast. Forgive me I like colors well saturated. Good job.   Posted: 05/09/2023 09:41:09
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Gabriele Dellanave   Gabriele Dellanave
Excellent action image and capture Kurt. I think that 1/500 time exposition is not that bad, I normally use that speed with car/moto racing and flying airplane. Maybe what would help in this kind of shooting is a tripod. I was in Kenya last October and there was a guy on our vehicle that was shooting mostly birds, with s Nikon and 800 mm long lens. And it was shooting without tripod. I didn't see any of his images but I would be very curios to do that. Also, what camera format are you using Kurt. That's another important consideration, the size of the subject most often is small. In any case to me your image looks pretty sharp. The exposition looks fine, as well as the composition. I busted a little bit the contrast. Forgive me I like colors well saturated. Good job.   Posted: 05/09/2023 09:41:09
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Marge Barham   Marge Barham
Kurtis something must be wrong with my computer. Both your original and the edited version are very pixelated. But I can see that you got some great color birds fighting away. I will assume they are sharp. The composition is perfect. Looks like two different birds, do you know what they are?
  Posted: 05/16/2023 19:36:07



Kurtis Sutley   Kurtis Sutley
The left one is a Saddlebill Stork and the right is a Marabou Stork.   Posted: 05/16/2023 22:12:04
Marge Barham   Marge Barham
Thank you Kurtis. I am sure you are right that it is a territorial dispute. A great moment to witness.
  Posted: 05/20/2023 18:44:51



Sylvia Bacon   Sylvia Bacon
Kurtis, you were fortunate to see these birds and get such a great action shot, I love it! To me, dodging and burning around the frame does make the birds stand out more although, my eyes kept drifting up to the light colored horizonal strip of grass above the bird's head. So, I decided to used Gabriele's suggested image and toned down that area with the burn tool. Not sure though if the overall picture looks better but my eyes tend to spend more time on just the two birds. A terrific picture!!   Posted: 05/27/2023 13:50:24
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Kurtis Sutley   Kurtis Sutley
Once again really good comments and very helpful suggestions. I appreciate everyone taking the time.   Posted: 05/27/2023 19:15:22



Regine Guillemin
Great action shot and beautiful birds. the composition is very appealing and I really like the blue color of the water which echoes the blue feathers of the birds.   Posted: 05/31/2023 15:57:32