Eating at last!

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

We were on Baby Lake in Minnesota in my friends boat. The day was overcast and the lake was a bit choppy. The adults were having a hard time getting this chick to take a fish from them. It at last took the small fish after it was offered several times.

Specific Feedback

Over all appeal, interest, and composition. I found it a bit difficult to balance between the dark feathers of the adults and the bright breast areas.

Technical Details

Canon R5, Canon 100-500mm @ 500mm. 1/1600 @ F-10 ISO 800

Did use Topaz A1

1 Like

Fantastic interaction shot with the parents and chick. There may be some processing issues, but if so, I’ll leave that for those with more experience. Great capture; I’d love to have this in my collection.

I love the composition, John. The interaction is also excellent. Both adults look nice and sharp, but the youngster looks rather blurred and I can’t figure out why. It shouldn’t be movement at that shutter speed. I know that fluff doesn’t have a lot of texture, but it just doesn’t seem to show any detail. I’m wondering if the Topaz AI misinterpreted what it was supposed to look like. If so, it would be easy enough to use the chick from the un-topazed original and merge it into the processed image.

A lovely family scene captured. The quality however is not as usual from you, I assume the Topaz worked too rigorously leaving hardly and detail and created some artifacts on the left side of the eye of the LH bird, and on the chin of RH bird. The blur issue of the chick may be connected. I would try to reprocess and bring down all the sliders and see what it does. The scene is definitely worth the effort. I can only wish to see this sometime :slight_smile: ! Cheers, Hans

A wonderful moment! But there is an overall flat look that appears to be too much Highlight and Shadows correction. There are halos around the adults’ heads, probably from too much bringing up shadows. And then I think Topaz has gotten a bit carried away with itself. I’d try again to see if it can me moderated. If you have the separate Denoise and Sharpen plugins, try them – one at a time on separate layers – Denoise first.

Thank you for your comments. My post processing skills are limited. However, I did take your comments and those of others to work this image again, using my skill level as it is. I must admit I was surprised what a bit more careful processing can do. If I can attach a new version I will .

Thank you. I will post a re-worked image soon.