Wildlife in the City

[Brownbear]

Today we have pigeons... They remind me of little people living in a different world.

Just an attempt to photograph something in a different way. I wonder if these work for anyone, or not and it is perfectly okay to say, not...


Myself I kind of like the first photo, I think the composition on the 2nd photo may be a bit odd, and the 3rd photo.

#1



#2


#3

[FlyingSquirrel]

Hi Christina. As mentioned, I don't always have time to look at all of everybody's threads, but from what I've seen of yours...I believe these photos have the best technical execution.

Exposure looks pretty good, focus and sharpness good, DOF is perfect. The 3rd is best for me because of the cleaner background and isolation of subject. Based on these, the thing you should work on next is being selective about the subject and background. Just wait for that perfect moment where you have an isolated subject in front of a solid background. Also, poses. You need to wait for a good pose and angle. First two are, for me, boring. 3rd is an example of a great pose and angle.

Compositionally, these all could be much better. The bird in the 3rd pic should be up and to the right more.

Great improvements.

[Mike Buckley]

from what I've seen of yours...I believe these photos have the best technical execution.

I agree!

The first one works best for me but is crying out to be cropped on the right side between the subjects and the item that is out of focus. The image would then take on a humorous tone of the foreground subjects snubbing the body position of the background subject.

[ajsmith]

Christina,

I like the first photo. The exposure is great and the colors where the light is hitting the necks is really nice. I would crop some off the right hand side of the photo.

[Brownbear]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for your comments and critique. Truly appreciated and great advice.

I am working on my backgrounds, compositions and poses and they are coming along...

With respect to this particular set of photos they were an experiment in shadows, light, detail and odd compositions, and a day in the life of a pigeon(s). I was trying to see if I could mimic Mike's work (1st image) See Two glass vessels

I also wanted to see if he would recognize the similarities without me saying anything, or posting the B&W versions... It may be that I did such bad job of it that it just didn't work.... It was an experiment in photographing pigeons a different way.

Ali and Mike... Agreed... Cropped in the B&W versions below

#4



#5



I tried to introduce motion blur in the pigeon in the background using Elements but couldn't do it well, so I scrapped that idea.

#6

[Mike Buckley]

Christina,

I'm honored that the image of the two glass vessels inspired you to try a similar approach in your own photography. I suppose there are two reasons that I didn't make the connection between these compositions and mine. One is that it comes so automatically for me to take advantage of a limited depth of field that I like it when others do it without drawing any comparisons to my own photos. The other reason is that I didn't realize that this might be a new approach for you. (If so, you did an especially good job considering your first try at it.) In summary, the fact that I didn't make the connection doesn't say anything about the quality of your photos.

I would prefer the color version of the first photo combined with the crop of the fourth photo.

Reminder: Once you post more than three images in a thread, it would help us discuss them if you would number all of them.

[Brownbear]

Mike, I admire your photos of glass, immensely. Hence, I was inspired and curious to see if it was possible to do something similar with birds... Pigeons are easy to find in the city, but not in nice sets of 2-4, but if I ever see a nice posed set, I will give it another whirl... As they say that curiosity killed the cat...

I'm also curious about why you prefer the colour... Even though they have texture and tone, is it because they lack good lines?

Thank you for the reminder... Done.

Christina,

I'm honored that the image of the two glass vessels inspired you to try a similar approach in your own photography. I suppose there are two reasons that I didn't make the connection between these compositions and mine. One is that it comes so automatically for me to take advantage of a limited depth of field that I like it when others do it without drawing any comparisons to my own photos. The other reason is that I didn't realize that this might be a new approach for you. (If so, you did an especially good job considering your first try at it.) In summary, the fact that I didn't make the connection doesn't say anything about the quality of your photos.

I would prefer the color version of the first photo combined with the crop of the fourth photo.

Reminder: Once you post more than three images in a thread, it would help us discuss them if you would number all of them.

[Mike Buckley]

I prefer the color version because it has all of the attributes of the monochrome version plus the interesting colors of the birds' necks. In other words, the monochrome version doesn't eliminate something that is unattractive in the color version (because there is nothing about the colors that are unattractive). The monochrome version doesn't add anything because all off its characteristics that are fundamental to successful monochromes (shape, texture, tonal nuance, volume and form) are also present in the color version.

I think all of the above is true for me because so much of the birds' bodies are already shades of black or white when displayed in color. I see no benefit to eliminating the other colors; just the opposite, eliminating them removes a very appealing characteristic of the image.