NikonGear'23
Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: Mongo on February 26, 2016, 07:54:07
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Fortunate enough to have this beautiful specimen of a pelican come straight for Mongo. It had just taken flight from a small wetlands lake still dripping water from its body. The lake’s surrounds had wonderful colours from the flowering vegetation - some colours almost matching the pelican’s beak and face. Mongo acknowledges that this is a very tight crop with not much of the usual space around the subject but that is one of the characteristics of this image - a concentrated subject.
Mongo’s rule is to disclose everything relevant about his images. In this case, he had to reconstruct the last 30mm or so of the very tip of the wing on right of screen as it had been cropped out of frame. The pelican had just gotten a little closer than Mongo would have liked while focusing to take the image. This practice may be frowned upon by some and not by others. Mongo believes it is whatever the photographer can produce by his/her efforts as the finished product that matters (but make disclosures where need be).
D800E, AFS II 600 f4 @ f5.6, 1/1000th, ISO 500, tripod
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Top notch image Mongo! The crispness of the subject contrasting with the painting-esque background, the colors, and the birds wing stretching diagonally from corner to corner make this image truly striking! You also did a great job of reconstructing the tip of the wing, I would not have known unless you said something.
As much as I strive to nail the image "in camera", there have certainly been times when things out of my control introduced elements to the image that I saw fit to edit out. I have no reason to frown upon your image. I know I do not have the skills, currently, to pull such an edit job. Impressive!
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I love the colors of the beak :)
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Impressive shot Mongo.
And about your reconstruction work, you portrayed what was there and didn't alter the message, just digitally compensated for a slow trigger finger ;)
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Great shot, and I am impressed that you held your position with that beak heading straight at you!
Thank you for the disclosure. The edit was a good idea.
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Mongo thanks you all for looking in for your feedback and comments. Much appreciated
JA - Mongo is impressed with your defence strategy of arguing the slow trigger finger as a good justification....(LOL !!)
Anthony - you are right about holding ones nerve - never had a pelican play chicken with Mongo before
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In all the years I have seen wildlife photos of pelicans, in magazines, books, TV, whathaveyou, I have never seen this angle on a pelican's head.
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Not sure what you mean by 'angle on a pelican's head' Keith. It looks quite normal in Mongo's experience. Maybe there is a first time for everything and this is a first for you from this slightly unusual perspective. Can assure you that apart from the one wing tip, the image is entirely as shot. Thanks for your feedback/view.
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Mongo, I think Keith means he's never seen a frontal pelican shot before as most posted images are broad side.
So its a compliment for the uniqueness of the image, and I agree ;D
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Big thanks JA. Mongo considered that was what Keith might have meant. Whilst Mongo agrees that a lot (if not most) pelican images seem to be taken in profile, it is not so unusual in Mongo's experience as he has taken quite a few head-on and also flying away. Of course, the latter ones of the bird's "backside" are usually uninteresting and not keepers..... ;D.
Again, Mongo's thanks to you and Keith
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Beautiful image!
impressive reconstruction
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Impressive catch there, Mongo. He seems to have you in his sights!
I did not realize how big their wingspan is.
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I don't think I have ever seen a pelican from this angle either, especially in such an impressive quality. As you say, the color contrast between light pink of the beak and green of the background enhances the beauty of the bird.
Thanks for sharing!
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thank you Armando, Mike and Akira.
Indeed, it is a deceptively very large bird. If you have ever been very close to one when it spreads its wings you will fast become aware of that. Could make your Christmas turkey look like you are serving up a plumpish quail.... ;D
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It has all been said already. Terrific image, impressive in many ways, great framing, sound technique . . . there's no need to go on, really.
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Nothing new to add but I do agree with everything above. Great shot from the colors of the beak to the contrast with the background, the "not usual" point of view, the impressive wing span an the great work in postproduction...it all works for an striking image.
Oh, I love the droplets :)
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Thank you so much David and Golunvolo for your kind comments.
Just another which may be also a little unusual in its perspective. Please excuse any halos as the PP was not the best on this - apologies.
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Mongo, I think Keith means he's never seen a frontal pelican shot before as most posted images are broad side.
So its a compliment for the uniqueness of the image, and I agree ;D
Yes, sorry...by "angle", I meant "camera angle".
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Not a worry Keith. Mongo is always pleased to to hear from you and get your views.
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I don't mind the halos at all (as long as they are not caused by radioactivity). Yet another great image, Mongo. It looks like a jumbo jet is landing.
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I don't mind the halos at all (as long as they are not caused by radioactivity). Yet another great image, Mongo. It looks like a jumbo jet is landing.
thanks Jakov. No, its not radioactivity - that would be wasted on photography. Mongo saves that for cooking these guys for dinner. Funny you should mention Jumbo jet. Others said the same thing when they saw this image.
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Fantastic shot! Well executed in every possible way.
Personally, I have no (i.e., zero) problem with this type of reconstruction or fix.
Well done.
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Fantastic shot! Well executed in every possible way.
Personally, I have no (i.e., zero) problem with this type of reconstruction or fix.
Well done.
many thanks Fredrick for looking in and for your appraisal and views about reconstruction. It is good to get members' feedback as to how they feel about this subject.
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Mongo has taken some beautiful images here.
I think birds in general (except owls and raptors) are usually taken in profile because that's how they tend to look at you?
I hope Mongo doesn't mind me contributing this image, it's just that I am not sure if it's a head-on or a tail-on?
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Mongo has taken some beautiful images here.
I think birds in general (except owls and raptors) are usually taken in profile because that's how they tend to look at you?
I hope Mongo doesn't mind me contributing this image, it's just that I am not sure if it's a head-on or a tail-on?
Now that is "head on" backside first !! Mongo loves it Peter - glad you posted it. Don't know what this creature was thinking or doing when you shot this. For a second or two, Mongo wondered if this was an example of "reconstruction" that Mongo also talked about in this thread (LOL) and TFS this.
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Sharp as a tack.
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Never mind the tricks, your efforts were rewarded. While the pelican springs, or rather flies, into the eyes, I also particularly like the background.
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Thanks Mongo.
This Egyptian goose was "standing up" after preening it's belly.
And it is not reconstructed, even if only because I don't know how to.
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Wonderful shot!
How did you enlarge the background to the right? The blur of the rightmost edge (I suppose that's what you had to add in order to paint the wingtip) looks distinct from the rest of the image (bigger radius and different directionality, as if it came from a shot with bigger aperture). This is only a small detail, but maybe it is something hat can be improved?
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thanks Ron, Airy and Peter.
Wonderful shot!
How did you enlarge the background to the right? The blur of the rightmost edge (I suppose that's what you had to add in order to paint the wingtip) looks distinct from the rest of the image (bigger radius and different directionality, as if it came from a shot with bigger aperture). This is only a small detail, but maybe it is something hat can be improved?
Thank you Simone for your comments. It is incredibly valuable to get your sort of feedback. Often, Mongo cannot see the details you pointed out. Now that you have, he has been able to go back and take a 200% look the original saved Tiff file. Thanks to you, he can now see the details you were explaining.
Now, to try and answer your queries:-
yes, the background on the right hand side had to be enlarged before the wingtip could be reconstructed by superimposing onto the background. Mongo can now see that the background (which was sourced from other sections of the image) does not have the same grain and radius under some magnification. This should not have happened. The sourcing of the background should only be done after virtually all the the post pressing (except sharpening ) has been done and always at the same image/pixel size. It is probable, in this case, that Mongo may have mistakenly sourced the background from the original file instead of the worked on image. This would explain this error. As far as the wing tips go, it was just a copy, invert, rotate, rescale and past from the whole wing to the truncated wing. Then, any light, contrast etc adjustments to that added wing tip to suit/match its new location (if required). This whole process can be much improved to be almost undetectable but it is clear that in this case, Mongo made some mistakes.
Mongo appreciates all your helpful comments. It helps improvement greatly when our attention is drawn to details such as these which we may not have otherwise become aware of.
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The first image is exceptional. ^5
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The first image is exceptional. ^5
very big thanks Gary. Mongo considers it very high praise coming from you. Much appreciated.