Michael Nath  


Bear River Bird Refuge by Michael Nath

September 2020 - Bear River Bird Refuge

About the Image(s)

The location is the Bear River Bird Refuge in northern Utah. Image taken with Nikon D810 with Sigma 150-600mm lens at 150mm, ISO 800, 1/3200s, at F8. The view has the Wasatch Mountains in the background and one of the irrigation canals that supply the water for the migrating waterfowl in the foreground. The ISO and shutter speed are set high so that I can shoot at any focal length of the lens handheld as the birds tend to become airborne and fly low and fast away from my position. Not many birds in view as this was taken during the fall waterfowl hunting season.


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




Paul Smith   Paul Smith
I like this a lot! The clouds and mountains are soft and pleasing. They could make a quality image, standing alone. The foreground focus and color makes this interesting. And I noticed the left-turning bird over the water, also in focus...nice capture1 Your last couple of images have really been fun to look at!!   Posted: 09/05/2020 17:08:36



Darcy Quimby   Darcy Quimby
Michael
I am loving your water pictures. I also like the placement of the water as a leading line through the picture. At first the weeds in the lower right being out of focus was a little distracting, not so much now. This actually anchors the picture in a strange way. Thanks for sharing   Posted: 09/06/2020 13:58:05



 
Michael, I like the bottom left > right composition. I'd like to see a bit more definition in the mountains - maybe 'dehaze' in LR or LcR. I'm not sure if the yellow boat/tub in the centre is distracting or not but I may have cloned it out.   Posted: 09/07/2020 08:27:28



 
Thank you Paul, Darcy, and Jerry for your kind assessments. The yellow object is a channel marker for directional flow of the water. It is just part of the human environment that exist throughout the bird refuge, so I left it in.   Posted: 09/10/2020 16:10:01



Ed O’Rourke   Ed O’Rourke
Michael, you have again given us an image to consider that makes me a bit more humble and reminds me that I have to work harder to improve to your level. I think it is a great scene of the wetlands and the mountains together. Overall I find it pleasing and I like the composition in conjunction with the colors with the sharp golden browns of the vegetation in the lower half, the diagonal line of blue water leading my eye up to the muted grays of the mountains and topped with the details of the grey clouds on the top. I think your exposure is good with no strong shadows or highlights.

I agree with Darcy in that I think the vegetation on the bottom right is a bit out of focus and I wonder if using f-stop higher that f/8 might give you better depth of field. I also find the yellow channel marker a bit distracting.   Posted: 09/14/2020 22:25:01
 
Thank you for your kind comments.   Posted: 09/15/2020 10:05:00



 
As Paul pointed out the clouds and mountains are soft and pleasing. In addition, this image has 'plein-air painting' composition that I love!! Good job!!   Posted: 09/16/2020 10:45:58
 
Thank you very much Jean. I appreciate it.   Posted: 09/16/2020 11:42:42



 
Lovely image. The juxtaposition of the colorful foreground and the almost monotone background is very interesting.

I cropped it somewhat to remove the out of focus reeds(?) in the front and some of the distracting bushes on the right.

You may also want to look at applying some noise reduction in the sky   Posted: 09/19/2020 07:48:30
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