Tomi Kelley  


Take Off by Tomi Kelley

December 2024 - Take Off

About the Image(s)

Canon R3, Canon EF 100-400mm at 400mm
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500

I recently went on my first ever safari trip to a private reserve in South Africa. The first few days I took many somewhat static shots mostly just cataloging all the different animals we were seeing. I was a guest on a friend’s family trip, mostly a tourist trip, not strictly for photographers. As the days went on, I wanted to work on more challenging shots, at times focusing on birds in flight. I was intrigued by the European Bee Eater birds, their colors and swooping flight patterns. I also wanted to practice using the bird tracking capabilities of my Canon R3. I was pleased by a few things in this image, though it is cropped to ~25%. I like the lighting on the wings and decent focus from the eye-tracking of my R3. I lightened up the shadows to get a little more detail on the wings and body. My Lightroom and Photoshop skills are fairly basic, but I’m learning more all the time. I’m curious to hear how you all would change/improve this image.


7 comments posted




Butch Mazzuca   Butch Mazzuca
Hi Tomi - welcome and congrats on a very nice capture - you asked about changing or improving so in my VF the first thing I look at when shooting birds is get the pupil of the subject's eye as sharp & clear as possible to help the image pop. So, I brightened the eye and saturated it, (and I almost never use saturation because I feel it distorts as many times as it helps an image) but I felt it necessary in this image.

I removed the branches on the right and while they add context, I feel they're more distracting than additive to the image. I added canvas because while the title is taking off, the bird appears to be flying downward and I wanted it at least in level flight, and lastly, since we read left to right I flipped the image in LR and darkened the background somewhat.
  Posted: 12/07/2024 17:21:35
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Barbara Mallon   Barbara Mallon
Wow! You captured a fantastic moment! Gorgeous bird. The light through the wings is wonderful. I would remove the stick that goes through its tail unless it is entered in nature. I would also crop out the remaining sticks from the right leaving the twig from which he is leaving. That leaves more behind the bird than Butch's Image. His eye treatment is a good idea.   Posted: 12/13/2024 04:25:06



Gaetan Manuel   Gaetan Manuel
The branches at the right are a bit distracting, especially the sharper one and the one that goes through the tail. Removing them would improve the image. The eye needs some brightening. Otherwise, it is a nice picture.   Posted: 12/13/2024 11:44:33



Tom McCreary   Tom McCreary
You captured the bird at a great moment, and it is sharp where it needs to be -- especially the eye. There is enough blur to show movement which is good. The backlighting with the light coming through the wings is very good. I mostly like what Butch did with the image, but think that he should have left more behind the bird, and I am not sure the image should have been reversed. The removal tools that are now in Photoshop make it easy to remove areas that are not wanted. Of course as Barbara mentioned, you can not do this if you are entering in nature.   Posted: 12/15/2024 19:13:44



Hoshedar Cooper   Hoshedar Cooper
Welcome to the group Tomi. You did well in capturing the bird in motion. I agree with most of the comments from the others. I increased the contrast a bit, played around with the lighting and removed part of the branches. I hope you like it.   Posted: 12/20/2024 08:01:42



Hoshedar Cooper   Hoshedar Cooper
  Posted: 12/20/2024 08:02:56
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Judith Flacke   Judith Flacke
Beautiful photo, well captured. I do like Butch's treatment a lot. Simplifying and improving composition to my mind. Gorgeous!
  Posted: 12/28/2024 17:38:45



 

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