Piers Blackett
July 2025 - Collecting Mud
Original
Original 2
About the Image(s)
In April the excessive rainfall caused muddy conditions. I was negotiating a muddy road when I came across a flock of Cliff Swallows collecting mud for nest building under the bridges and was impressed by their intensity. My camera was set at f/10, 1/640th sec, ISO 320 using an RF100-500 at 500 mm. I stayed in the car and had faith that my Subaru would not get stuck, but I did consider trying to get at a lower angle. I spent more than 30 minutes shooting until another car came the other way, so this one was selected from the collection. As you can see from the wider view there was excessive activity, so the challenge was to find catchlight in at least one bird. Going monochrome possibly focuses down on the bird's activity.
9 comments posted
Piers, I admire anyone who can catch images of birds' activity. I'm not too sure what I am looking at--I'm assuming more than one bird with maybe three or four pairs of wings. Is there a way with different shading you can separate these birds? My eyes are confused--but maybe it's a confusing activity. Posted: 07/02/2025 21:23:22
Thanks that's helpful. I will think about it. Posted: 07/03/2025 16:45:54
I like the color version better because the bit of blue on the subject's head catches my eye and keeps it coming back to him. I would try to maybe lift a bit more of the shadows around the bird's head and neck area to give it some more separation from the other birds' wings. Posted: 07/02/2025 21:42:27
Thanks - in this image I have tried some tonal adjusting to contrast the bird's head from the background but without going beyond standard PSA rules for nature. I'm not sure how to separate the background birds other than to mask and blur them slightly. I would like to keep them in to portray the intense collaborative activity. I do have other images of one bird alone as in the expanded supplemental image but not as sharp. Posted: 07/03/2025 16:54:50
Piers, I love the bird in the foreground. It is tack sharp and nicely exposed. I am guessing that the camera settings you have given us resulted in a depth of field of about 600mm (2 feet) which was not tight enough to isolate all the birds immediately behind the front bird.
You did your best in a very busy, clustered situation.
Regarding the PSA Nature definition (which is probably the same or very nearly the same as the FIAP definition). I wonder how a judge might interpret the allowable adjustments on your image where it states "Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene."
My interpretation of this statement is that you might be allowed to change the "brightness" of the birds behind the front bird to create some separation. Maybe, maybe not!
Posted: 07/06/2025 03:34:02
You did your best in a very busy, clustered situation.
Regarding the PSA Nature definition (which is probably the same or very nearly the same as the FIAP definition). I wonder how a judge might interpret the allowable adjustments on your image where it states "Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene."
My interpretation of this statement is that you might be allowed to change the "brightness" of the birds behind the front bird to create some separation. Maybe, maybe not!
Posted: 07/06/2025 03:34:02
Hi Martin, In the PSA's definition of nature works, it is not allowed to darken part of the image, although darkening the wings of the bird behind effectively highlights the front, but this is not compliant. Posted: 07/13/2025 09:30:52
Thanks - seems there is room for interpretation of the rules. Our club emphasizes representing what you "see". But it's tough to see detail during such fast action. I was not aware that changing hue and saturation could be allowed, and have redone the image by using the quick selection tool to deselect for the background before editing with a hue and saturation mask. I included the mud in the beak to match the mud on the ground. Then I brushed in some selective darkening. Posted: 07/07/2025 17:12:49
Hi, Piers.
Especially since I'm seasonal resident of SW Florida, I have really enjoyed exploring and learning bird photography. Florida is a Mecca for Birders. It is (excuse the pun) a whole different (photographic) animal.
I love the catchlight that you captured in the birds eye in your presented image, but my first impression of the image, overall, is that I wasn't sure what I was looking at. The background wings without heads forced me to look for the shooting information - perhaps I was seeing a double/multiple exposure or a long exposure from the single bird. Your shutter speed told me otherwise. It wasn't until I saw your "Original 2" image that I saw the bigger picture and I feel it told the better story behind the cacophany of fluttering wings and the gathering of mud. I love the colors on the primary bird.
In the BW version, I feel that the background wings get lost in the darker shades.
In looking at your submitted image again, I felt that the head and breast of the featured Cliff Swallow were a bit too dark, not giving enough visual separation betweem it and the headless birds behind it. I took the liberty of lightening up those portions of the featured bird to provide better separation. I used a simple brush to mask it then raised the shadows and exposure slightly. Posted: 07/11/2025 18:54:04
Especially since I'm seasonal resident of SW Florida, I have really enjoyed exploring and learning bird photography. Florida is a Mecca for Birders. It is (excuse the pun) a whole different (photographic) animal.
I love the catchlight that you captured in the birds eye in your presented image, but my first impression of the image, overall, is that I wasn't sure what I was looking at. The background wings without heads forced me to look for the shooting information - perhaps I was seeing a double/multiple exposure or a long exposure from the single bird. Your shutter speed told me otherwise. It wasn't until I saw your "Original 2" image that I saw the bigger picture and I feel it told the better story behind the cacophany of fluttering wings and the gathering of mud. I love the colors on the primary bird.
In the BW version, I feel that the background wings get lost in the darker shades.
In looking at your submitted image again, I felt that the head and breast of the featured Cliff Swallow were a bit too dark, not giving enough visual separation betweem it and the headless birds behind it. I took the liberty of lightening up those portions of the featured bird to provide better separation. I used a simple brush to mask it then raised the shadows and exposure slightly. Posted: 07/11/2025 18:54:04
Thanks for your helpful discussion and edits and for putting the concept into words. I agree with bringing out the head and breast while mostly leaving the background birds. Posted: 07/13/2025 21:19:26