A Little Something Different from Me

[sm4him]

No explanatory banter on this--I'd just love to hear your thoughts. C&C, general impressions, all welcome.

 

[SCraig]

While many people like this style, I go to a lot of effort to get things as sharp as I can in a photograph. Shots with everything out of focus, blurred, etc. just don't do anything at all for me, sorry.

 

[nmasters]

No explanatory banter on this--I'd just love to hear your thoughts. C&C, general impressions, all welcome.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24369838@N07/8218468386/

The pattern of the wings is quite interesting. I like it!

 

[MLeeK]

I REALLY like the notion in the wings but wish the beak and eyes were clearer. It's neat. Definitely something to play more with!!

 

[pixmedic30 1]

it looks like there is a giant fingerprint in the middle of your lens.

 

[sm4him]

While many people like this style, I go to a lot of effort to get things as sharp as I can in a photograph. Shots with everything out of focus, blurred, etc. just don't do anything at all for me, sorry.

Fair enough; this sort of thing is definitely not for everyone! Actually, I was out attempting the nice, clear, sharp focus pictures initially--though my best efforts aren't worth posting, compared to yours. I messed a shot up horribly, but it gave me this idea.

While I DO like the nice, sharply focused photos, especially with things like birds and other wildlife, I also like the more "artistic" genres as well, and I love to explore with abstracts, as well as soft-focus that has a particular artistic quality to it. That's what I was going for here. Whether or not I achieved it, I've not really decided.

Thanks for your comment; I appreciate the honest feedback!

 

[sm4him]

No explanatory banter on this--I'd just love to hear your thoughts. C&C, general impressions, all welcome.

The pattern of the wings is quite interesting. I like it!

Thank you!

I REALLY like the notion in the wings but wish the beak and eyes were clearer. It's neat. Definitely something to play more with!!

Thanks; I find myself just short of really loving this. Perhaps you're right about the beak and eyes; that's something to consider. I'm sure I'll give it a few more attempts, if the birds will cooperate!
I appreciate the feedback!

 

[sm4him]

it looks like there is a giant fingerprint in the middle of your lens.

Are you talking about that kind of "swirl" that seems to be overlayed like a bullseye on the cardinal? I noticed that, and I have NO idea what caused it--that certainly wasn't anything I was trying for!

 

[pixmedic30 1]

it looks like there is a giant fingerprint in the middle of your lens.

Are you talking about that kind of "swirl" that seems to be overlayed like a bullseye on the cardinal? I noticed that, and I have NO idea what caused it--that certainly wasn't anything I was trying for!

awe man...im sorry...I thought that was on purpose.

 

[SCraig]

Fair enough; this sort of thing is definitely not for everyone! Actually, I was out attempting the nice, clear, sharp focus pictures initially--though my best efforts aren't worth posting, compared to yours. I messed a shot up horribly, but it gave me this idea.

While I DO like the nice, sharply focused photos, especially with things like birds and other wildlife, I also like the more "artistic" genres as well, and I love to explore with abstracts, as well as soft-focus that has a particular artistic quality to it. That's what I was going for here. Whether or not I achieved it, I've not really decided.

Thanks for your comment; I appreciate the honest feedback!

I can understand that. I've always been more of a purist and have never cared for abstracts. Just my personal preference though. I have to admit that if the face and beak been sharp it would have been gorgeous. Do keep working at it, it's a very interesting concept.

 

[manaheim]

It's an interesting idea, but with none of it in focus at all it's a bit troublesome. Did you try popping a flash with it? I didn't bother to look at the exif info because I don't have that stupid thing installed yet, but I would think a flash pop might have frozen some of the bird while letting elements remain blurry as well?

 

[fjrabon]

It's an interesting idea, but with none of it in focus at all it's a bit troublesome. Did you try popping a flash with it? I didn't bother to look at the exif info because I don't have that stupid thing installed yet, but I would think a flash pop might have frozen some of the bird while letting elements remain blurry as well?

I don't really see how you could have concentrated a flash enough to nail part of the bird and not the whole bird. This technique is really difficult to get right on human models that you can position and give orders, let alone small moving birds.

 

[fjrabon]

actually if anything bothers me, it's the nearly sharp plant portions in the bottom right. If they were equally blurry, I'd like it a lot more.

 

[sm4him]

It's an interesting idea, but with none of it in focus at all it's a bit troublesome. Did you try popping a flash with it? I didn't bother to look at the exif info because I don't have that stupid thing installed yet, but I would think a flash pop might have frozen some of the bird while letting elements remain blurry as well?

It's an interesting idea, but with none of it in focus at all it's a bit troublesome. Did you try popping a flash with it? I didn't bother to look at the exif info because I don't have that stupid thing installed yet, but I would think a flash pop might have frozen some of the bird while letting elements remain blurry as well?

I don't really see how you could have concentrated a flash enough to nail part of the bird and not the whole bird. This technique is really difficult to get right on human models that you can position and give orders, let alone small moving birds.

Thanks, both of you for the feedback. Manaheim, no, I didn't use flash--that's a definite idea, although I agree with fjrabon, I'm afraid I'd end up getting more in focus than what I'm wanting. I'm still in the pretty early learning stages of flash--is there some kind of diy snoot or something I could put on my popup to try to direct the flash into as narrow an area as possible?
Ideally, this is gonna to be shot from a distance of 20-25 feet, if I can get a bird to repeat the procedure for me. :lmao:

fjrabon, you're right--I'm kinda asking for the moon here to try to get the exact same results, except for a small area of focus, on an already small, fast-moving object. But what the heck--not like I was having any BETTER luck getting them IN focus.

 

[sm4him]

actually if anything bothers me, it's the nearly sharp plant portions in the bottom right. If they were equally blurry, I'd like it a lot more.

THIS is what bothered me THE most about this photo. And actually, they were also a very glaring shade of green which I found highly distracting. That's also why the bird is a little more centered than I'd like--I had to crop out the right side because it was nothing but this bright green that ruined the rest of the image.

In a reshoot, I'd definitely change that. If I can get focus on the bird's head and nothing else, that should do it. But just to be sure, I may go do some hedge trimming tomorrow. :lmao:

In the meantime, I may also play with it and see if I can do anything about those in the existing photo. But my PS skills aren't really all that good, plus my Macbook died last night, which is the only thing I had Photoshop ON at home. So, it'd have to wait till I have time at work.