Need some honest opinions...

[Bobobird]

This is a sampling of a huge series of shots of a juvenile bald eagle that were taken yesterday.

Bit of background - the day started at 8am, it was very very bright throughout. The beach was too bright, the lake was fine but the waves were too bright as well.

The beach is east to west, the lake is south. The bird is very dark and 90% of the time it is facing either east or west, sometimes north. So most of him is usually heavily shaded.

I tried as best to make sure that the dark areas were not totally black and that the bright areas did not blow. Imagine sometimes using ISO 3200 on a day like this. LOL

Ok, shadow recovery was not all that bad, toning down the highlights somewhat was not all that bad either. Actually most of the shots did not even need sharpening but gave it a tad at the end.

Somehow I feel that there is a lack of "balance" somewhere but just can't "see" it.

Sorry about the pic spam but hoping more of him might help isolate the "issue".

Thanks as always.

1. Like my hairdo?


2. Karate practise.


3. Vegan.


4. Mouth wash.


5. Oh god of the waters, please...


6. Enemy overhead ?


7. Better run for cover...

[Pica]

Hello Bobo,
You asked for honest feedback. This is what I see when I view your work:
The motif and the color tones are good to view. I like them both.
I would not have placed the bird so much dead-centre as you have in your images. To facilitate the perception and experience for your viewers, my advice is to explore e.g. The rule of Thirds with focus on the vital parts of the bird; like its eyes or head.
FYI: I prefer to perform my photographic framing before pressing the trigger. However cropping during your post-processing is a good solution here.

With this said, great that you shared this experience with us. I always like view wildlife.

Hope my review supports you on your quest! Have a nice day Bobo.

[Pica]

Hello again Bobo,
As I am a positive person, I will add the following:
- I do like every about #7. It is a grand accomplishment. Way to go!

[Shadowman]

Nice series, contrast is very high but otherwise pretty good. I would try to work with golden tones of the eagle and the blues of the water.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Pica I appreciate your kind words and will bear your advice in mind.

[Bobobird]

Thanks John. Yes contrast is high. I will work on your suggestions.

Quick redo of #3.

[Pica]

Thanks Pica I appreciate your kind words and will bear your advice in mind.

You are welcome.
Have a nice day from Scandinavia

[Stagecoach]

Hi Bobo,

Superb set and technically good, and I would be over the moon with them.

But, to assist in your dilemma I'll throw in some thoughts. Firstly, balance is an interesting term and could be used with respect to composition or separation of subject.

Some I feel could be improved (too late now) with a greater separation from the background (less DoF) but I appreciate not always as easy as it was in 2 & 3.

Possibly toning down the contrast slightly (but not as much as in post 6) and then undertaking some selective sharpening to draw the eye in to areas such as water drops, beak and eyes.

Just some ideas but considering your lighting conditions some excellent results.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Grahame. Excellent feedback. Now it is getting clearer. I was probably too concerned with taming the light.

DOF is a very challenging thing especially with birds. Normally I would be anywhere between f4 to f8 depending on the lens. Actually made a deliberate decision for #4-7 and took it to f11 so that angular changes in the birds position (while always focusing the eye) would not render half the bird out of focus. Of course that introduces a DOF issue but it was either one or the other. A cannot have the whole cake thing haha.

Balance - how I see it is that each part of a pic should support every other part. Colour, contrast, placement, dark/bright, details/lack of details, etc. ie nothing out of place, nothing to jar the eye away from subject. I know when one is "balanced". Here in this set am not so certain.

[jcuknz]

I would suggest that you do not get carried away with the rule of thirds and the most central shots #1 #6 #7 are appropriately central and ROT would completely upset them. Also I never bother very much about OOF backgrounds as with first a bridge and currently less so MFT I rarely get it so I early on learnt how to put the background OOF in editing ... but of course I have a proper editor in Paint Shop Pro and later versions have tools which make selecting the background even easier than in earlier versions ... actually I usually select the subject and then invert the selection.

[Mike Buckley]

For me, the very large differences between this set of photos and the wonderful photos of yours that I have become accustomed to seeing is simply that neither the light nor the backgrounds are nearly as advantageous. Capture this bird in more appealing situations and you'll be a lot happier. Easier said than done, but you've consistently proven that you're one of the few that actually do get it done.

[NorthernFocus]

Hey, Bobo. I'll bet you had a blast on this shoot. It's always interesting when you run across these unusual behaviors going on with critters.

Regarding C/C, first regarding the composition since that's been discussed by others. Unless animals are in odd positions or fill the majority of the frame, my own preference is to more or less center than animal's head. One thing that accomplishes is that regardless of which direction they are looking there is "room" in the direction of view. Most of these more or less meet that description. The exceptions are nos. 1 and 2 in which the bird is a bit high in the frame IMO.

Regarding the techs, the feathers in the shadows in nos. 4 and 6 seem over saturated. Also I'm loathe to mention it due to issues associated with sizing conversions etc. but when viewed full size in the light box they all seem like they would benefit from a bit of sharpening. But I frequently have issues that I can't explain where images look softer viewed on CIC than on my desktop so take it as appropriate.

Due to the natural simplicity of the surface of the water, the DOF isn't really an issue for me on the shots made at f11. Plus in some cases, and this is one, including more habitat within the DOF adds interest without distracting from the main subject.

Overall a nice set of interesting images here. Nicely done.

[Ndukes]

Lovely series Bobo. Looks like he was too busy to stay still for you, apart from no.7.

[Bobobird]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the great feedback. Apologies for the later than usual reply - had to rush to the airport after posting and just got off a 16 hours flight. Whew!

A bit more about the conditions. I was using the 7D2 + 100-400 MK2. This gives a good range. But the bird was at most times too close and most shots were taken at roughly 200mm. Being that close introduces other problems primarily placement and focusing. My position was also dependent on how close he would be or what he will do. Many times he would spread his wings and so allowance had to be given for that in order not to clip the wings. Given that most shots would be full frame, there was very little room left for compositional cropping.

I have this thing about good detail and always focusing on the head/eyes. If he was further away it would not have mattered as much.

There will probably be no other chance being away for the next 6 weeks. Wish I had taken the 1Dx or the 5D3, instead of the 7D2. The 100-400 would have been perfect. Both were in the car but there was too much going on and no way was I going back to the car and wasting half an hour. Nearly 2000 shots goes to show how my activity there was.

Overall I think it was the lighting and having to contend with both dark and bright at the same time. Post processing is one of my weak points and getting everything right from the beginning is my way of trying to overcome this.

Judging from the various suggestions it looks like the skill set has to be upped to get all this right. But it will get done. Hopefully will be able to post some "perfect" shots later.

Thanks again.