For Your Critique: Image #8 « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

For Your Critique: Image #8

This image was created on the Lake Kerkini, Greece IPT with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens and the 1.4X III TC (handheld at 145mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode.

Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: -8.

For Your Critique: Image #8

The image above is presented for your critique; feel free to praise it or rip it to shreds. All suggestions are welcome. Would you keep it or delete it? Let us know why either way, what you like or what you hate. What would you have done differently?

Over the course of the next two months or so, I will present twelve additional images in this series for a total of twenty in all. The last will be followed by several revelations including two major ones.

Posse News/Robert O’Toole

Dalmatian Pelican Workshop, Northern Greece, Feb 6-11, 2012. Six full days. $2799. Three photographers/boat, leader: Robert O’Toole (You need to be at the hotel on the late afternoon or early evening of Feb 5, 2012).

Robert’s first trip to Greece with me to photograph the amazing pelicans was one of his best trips ever. The biggest problem was trying to keep from filling our cards. I came close to filling a 32GB CF card for the first time ever. This workshop will offer morning and late afternoon in-the-field instructional photography sessions from shore and on the water from boats. Afternoons will be spent on image optimization, workflow and friendly helpful critique sessions as a group and one on one.

For more information, click here.

As Robert is in Australia it is best to reach him via e-mail.

Shopper’s Guide

Below is a list of the gear used to create the image in today’s blog post. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide.

Support both the Bulletins and the Blog by making all your B & H purchases here.

Remember: you can earn free contest entries with your B & H purchases. Eleven great categories, 34 winning and honored images, and prize pools valued in excess of $20,000. Click here for details. In the past few days several folks have earned multiple contest entries by e-mailing us there B&H receipts: two Mark IV bodies and one 300 f/2.8L IS II! Congrats and good luck on all counts.

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Man, I am loving this lens on my shoulder with the 2X III teleconverter. I also use it a lot with the 1.4X III TC.
Canon 1.4X III Teleconverter. Designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body. My two Mark IVs are my workhorse digital camera bodies.

And from the BAA On-line Store:

The Lens Align Mark II. I use the Lens Align Mark II pretty much religiously to micro-adjust all of my gear an average of once a month and always before a major trip. Enjoy our free comprehensive tutorial here.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV User’s Guide. Learn to use your Mark IV the way that I use mine.

15 comments to For Your Critique: Image #8

  • avatar Sherman Robinson

    I like this a lot! This bird looks like it just stepped out of an animated cartoon! It would certainly be a keeper for me!

  • I think it’s great…love the humor.

  • avatar Bill Richardson

    BTW, I notice that you give the micro adjustment settings on your body/lens now. I hope nobody is taking those specific settings as recommended for their own gear.

  • avatar Bill Richardson

    I generally like this pose and tight crop on pelicans so I like it. The white Greek ones don’t seem to have quite the “attitude” of our Florida browns though. The Florida ones really give the evil eye. I like the white on white look too. I wonder if I would like it better cropped tighter vertically to reduce the washed out top and focus blur on the bill at the bottom?

  • avatar Ted Willcox

    Up close and personal. I like the way the wind has lifted his head feathers, giving him the bad hair day look. An incredibly sharp image. It’s a keeper for me.Beautiful colors.

  • I like it a lot! Great expression! The eye is very sharp, and love the reds and orange to compliment the predominant gray color. The biggest problem is the beak, which is not just out of focus, it is way out of focus. The crop does help in that regard. It has already been mentioned, but I would have tried to darken the background a little in Photoshop.

  • avatar Steve Stadler

    I Love it!! It really captures the personification of a grumpy old man who just woke up, and it looks like something Pixar would use as a character in one of their movies.

  • avatar Jon

    I would definitely keep it I love the exposure, colours and fine detail. I think it would be great in a picture show where you would have whole head images and complete body images. As a picture on its own it has impact but it does leave me asking where is the rest of the bill – but with other supporting images it does not matter at all….great shot.

  • I would have liked a slightly darker background. I think that seeing the feathers on the top of the head a little more clearly would add to the photograph.
    otherwise great!

  • avatar Mary Stamper

    That’s hilarious! I love it. The out-of-focus part of the bill is fine. It’s irrelevant to the shot. The hairdo is fantastic!

  • I like it a lot, as is. No problem for the cropped bill, as the area of interest are the “hair” of the bird. 😉

  • Artie,

    This reminds me of a girl I dated in High School.

    Seriosly though, I would have allowed a bit more of the beak to balance the great attraction to the hair-do. The crop is just a little bit too close. Other than that it’s a great catch.

    Milton

  • avatar Ray Rozema

    Detail, color, eye contact very good. I find it a little distracting that the distal portion of the bill is out of focus

  • avatar Jerry

    Really like the feather detail and the expression in the eye.
    Just wondering if you were shooting at 145mm
    then why use the 1.4 TC with the 70-200mm lens?

  • avatar Esther Corley

    This, to me, is totally and absolutely perfect. It gave me a huge laugh when I 1st laid eyes on it. It is sharp, well oriented, etc……….