Our local robins are on their second brood for the year. When I found this shell I wanted to photograph it and decided on a more stylized approach - a natural still-life if you will. This is my first attempt to do one - where I more deliberately place and choose props. Plus I used an LED panel to give me a little dramatic lighting without seeming too artificial. At least that’s my hope. Since this was in heavy shade with only the light panel positioned up and behind (on a GorillaPod), I underexposed about 2/3 stop and then added a bit of exposure in post. Managing the highlights and the whites was pretty key. I pulled 17 frames from a 20+ batch of focus-bracketed images for the final stack.
Anyway…I am not 100% satisfied with it. The composition is a little static, but it’s a start and something I will continue to explore.
Specific Feedback Requested:
Really anything helpful is fine. It’s a work in progress. Is the lighting too weird?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Is this a composite? - no, multi-exposure
Tripod & LED panel on another one
Focus bracketing +4 step, 17 exposures, 0/+ method
Lr processed as above using some local brush work on the leaf and the egg, a graduated filter on the background and a slight vignette. Adjusted aqua slider to the warmer end. Sharpening & nr. Slight crop. Zerene DMap image with some retouching for a goopy background and some other glitches.
Kris, I think you are a little hard on yourself. To me you have put together a nice image here. I love the color contrast, for sure, the eggshell against the brown leaf is nice. I am wondering if maybe a pano to crop some of the top out and a little from the bottom would rid the top BG that seems different than the rest, and allow the leaf and eggshell to have more of the attention. Just a thought.
I’m with Shirley, don’t be to hard on yourself. The lighting is great. And the colour of that egg shell against the leaf work gorgeously. The focus is great too, there’s detail on the whole leaf and shell.
I can understand your struggle with the composition, it’s not a easy subject to frame, the egg is centred but the leaf looks a bit on the left to me, but that small branch of the leaf is the hard part, it uses physical space but doesn’t have a big visual impact as the rest of the leaf.
It’s a great start and i’m looking to see more of this kind of image, keep them coming. Cheers
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman & @João_Ferrão - maybe I am too critical, but it’s how I keep stretching my knowledge & techniques.
The leaf was a great find for this. Originally I had the egg on the moss directly, but it didn’t work. The props were still where I left them yesterday, so I might have another go at this.
You’re right about the leaf stem, João - I think I can do a better job managing the overall composition. Maybe turning the egg in the opposite direction will help, too.
