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Archive 2016 · Mount Hood Sunrise

sawww
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Mount Hood Sunrise

Hi everyone, first time posting here. Here's a set from a few days ago, looking for critique/feedback. I can't decide between the first two, most people seem to be split pretty half and half on more birds or the single bird.

Andy

Dec 22, 2016 at 03:03 PM

lighthound 10-time assignment winner

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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Mount Hood Sunrise

First off, Welcome to the PC forum!
You have come to the right place to get excellent feedback and honest critique of your work. Some can be a bit harsh but always remember even the harsh critiques are good if you truly want to improve your work. And I'll even go as far to say that the harsh critiques are what help me the most. You just can not take it personally because the good folks that contribute in here are truly here to help and willingly share their vast knowledge with all of us.

Well I'm gonna bust your bubble and pick #3 out of this set.

I'm a landscape and wildlife kinda guy but very rarely have I seen the two pulled together in a shot that allows both to sing. So I have to go with #3 as I think you captured some fantastic light and drama/mood in that shot. I like your choice of a slow shutter as well.

My nits on that image would be to clean up the dust bunnies and maybe crop a bit off the top. The added sky doesn't add much and by going a little tighter you would bring out even more mood I think.

Again, Welcome to PC! Hopefully others will be along and offer even better advice. It's a busy time of year for many, so be patient as it might take a little time for some to drift in here.

Dave

Dec 22, 2016 at 07:35 PM

ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Mount Hood Sunrise

Welcome to PC, and I agree with Dave here.

Dec 22, 2016 at 07:45 PM

sawww
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Mount Hood Sunrise

lighthound wrote:
My nits on that image would be to clean up the dust bunnies and maybe crop a bit off the top. The added sky doesn't add much and by going a little tighter you would bring out even more mood I think.

Thanks for the comment. Agreed on the crop, I thought to myself "I should have played around with the crops" on all the images right after posting. Will have to go back and try them out.

What did you mean by dust bunnies? As in dust on the sensor? I forgot about that, I'll go back in and remove them.

Cheers.

Dec 22, 2016 at 08:13 PM

pixlepeeper
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Mount Hood Sunrise

I like the second one; has several layers to it.

Dec 22, 2016 at 08:16 PM

lighthound 10-time assignment winner

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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Mount Hood Sunrise

sawww wrote:
Thanks for the comment. Agreed on the crop, I thought to myself "I should have played around with the crops" on all the images right after posting. Will have to go back and try them out.

What did you mean by dust bunnies? As in dust on the sensor? I forgot about that, I'll go back in and remove them.

Cheers.

You're welcome! And yep, I was refering to the few sensor dust spots that I had seen. Nothing major and I'm sure you would have found them before you did any printing.

I hope you don't mind but I tried a few tweaks to the #3 image just to see how a 16:9 crop would work. Of course I then had to play even more.

If you would like me to remove this edit just say the word.

I mainly adjusted the WB globally to warm it up and then hit a few select areas again. And added a little dodge and burn to help draw the eyes into the scene and a few other things here and there. I did not witness this scene so my take on it might be completely off track from what you saw and where you wanted to take it. And as Kent says, S&P to taste.

This is a nice shot!

Dave

Dec 22, 2016 at 10:53 PM

sawww
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Mount Hood Sunrise

Really like would you've done with it Dave. I haven't played much with different aspect ratios. I usually just keep it the same to keep all of my photos neat and tidy, but this looks really great, I'll keep this in mind from now on.

Unfortunately I can't say the sunrise was that dramatic, but I like your edit. I was worried about the foreground being too dark even though I raised the shadows all the way (I'm pretty scared about pushing edits too far), but this looks good. I'll have to see how far I can get away with it.

This was all very helpful, thanks so much.

Dec 23, 2016 at 02:15 AM

OregonSun
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Mount Hood Sunrise

#2 and #3 for me. I like Dave's interpretation, especially the crop. I think #2 would be stronger as a 4x5 crop losing the bottom, since the dead grass doesn't really add much. This will also draw more attention to the birds. #1 would be much stronger if the bird had a better wing position and wasn't right on the edge of the cloud. Welcome to FM, the critique board rocks!

Heron

Dec 23, 2016 at 03:24 AM

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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Mount Hood Sunrise

I zoomed out with by browser so that I could see all 4 at the same time. I prefer #3 and to a lesser extent, #1.

I like Dave's 16x9 edit.

I used to have trouble with 16x9 and other "less standard" crops. [Not sure I can say they aren't "standard" nowadays.] But more recently, I've been using 16x9 a lot and have occasionally gone "wider". 2.35:1 --Cinemascope!

Dec 23, 2016 at 10:19 AM


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