I could have done a better job at processing, but I didn't realize I was going to put it in freestudy until last minute. So I put it in with the quick processing I had done.
Couple of things: I agree the tight crop is weird, and feels a little uncomfortable. And it's completely possible that I could have done a better tight crop. But I found the look on the fish's face to be the interest in the photo. And it got completely lost if I didn't crop the wings.
For reference -- here's a shot with the whole bird. I would be interested if anyone wanted to play with it and come up with a better crop that still emphasized the fish's mouth. I know that I've seen other people do it effectively, but I'm still trying to figure it out.
Also, regarding the brightness of the body. I also thought it was blown, so I brought it into photoshop and was going to fix it, but it says that there are no clipped highlights. Ospreys are notoriously difficult trying to avoid blown highlights. But even though it looks like it is -- I guess it's not?
This was during the shad run on the Rappahannock. It was the first spring I had been there and it was amazing!!! Here are some other shots from the trip.
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 35 Avg (all users): 7.5862 Avg (participants): 7.5000 Avg (non-participants): 7.7273 Views since voting: 185 Views during voting: 83 Votes: 29 Comments: 9 Favorites: 0
You are the John Wick of the photography world 😅 No matter the technical difficulties, you always pull it off and emerge to the top. Congratulations, vawendy!
PS: The thumbnail links above do not seem to be working. Just show as text, not links.
Yeah that happens when you put the photos in during voting.. Don't quit know why you have to go back and save the changes again. But thanks for pointing it out, I had forgotten about it!
As a fellow Osprey shooter I am so jealous. My nearby shooting locations are all on nests rather the "fishing" spots. I do get the bird bringing fish to the nest sometimes, but not the wet dripping water shots like this. Well done.
As far as the highlight. Tough bird to shoot. Sometimes needs to reduce them to 70s or 80s even if they are not blown out in the 90s. You can also clone in a 10-20% opacity yellow/brown sometimes to take the edge off.
Brilliant capture!...Fascinating how even the finest of finest details are captured such as the red traces of blood visible in the trailing spattering of water drops. Also the astonished expression formed by the "O" of the fish's mouth.
My immediate choice for Blue upon seeing this image and I'm only halfway through looking at all the entries and still have to look at the rest. Ok so I finished looking at all the entries and even though there are some beautiful images this one remains my first choice for Blue. Ps. Will come back to vote if I manage to scrape together enough money for another months membership in time before voting ends. I will then give it a 9. Would have been a 10 if the highlights in the centre white part of the body weren't so blown out.
Composition: 7 - Zoomed just a little tight for my liking. I assume you will have a number of amazing outtakes!
Technical: 9
Creativity: 7
Appeal: 8
Challenge: 5 - I give everyone a 5 in this category for Free Study for obvious reasons
Overall Calculated Average Score: 7 (Bumping to 8)
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