Swainson's Hawk

[fiziwig]

This Swainson's Hawk has an injured wing and is being taken care of at the Cascade Raptor Center. In the wild I never would have gotten close enough to take this picture with only a 210mm zoom.

 

[SCraig]

Beautiful bird. I love hawks of all kinds.

I would recommend brightening the subject though. Lighten the bird but leave the background where it is.

 

[EricD]

I would agree with SCraig.....nice profile thou!

 

[fiziwig]

Beautiful bird. I love hawks of all kinds.

I would recommend brightening the subject though. Lighten the bird but leave the background where it is.

Thank you for that suggestion. Is this better?

 

[SCraig]

It does, but in my opinion it's still too dark.

I was thinking something along the lines of:

That's a very quick edit and I left a few bright spots that I could have cleaned up, but in my opinion it makes the bird more the focus of attention than letting it blend into the background. It's your photograph and you may disagree though. Either way I think it's a great shot.

 

[shefjr]

It does, but in my opinion it's still too dark.

I was thinking something along the lines of:

That's a very quick edit and I left a few bright spots that I could have cleaned up, but in my opinion it makes the bird more the focus of attention than letting it blend into the background. It's your photograph and you may disagree though. Either way I think it's a great shot.

I like this edit. To the OP, lucky you! that had to be pretty cool to see that close up. Nice shot!:thumbup:

 

[fiziwig]

I like it, but I'm torn. The bird is technically "Swainson's Hawk - Dark Morph (or Dark Phase)". It's a very dark-colored bird in real life. If I lighten it too much it's no longer true to life. I suppose I could claim "artistic license".

 

[SCraig]

I like it, but I'm torn. The bird is technically "Swainson's Hawk - Dark Morph (or Dark Phase)". It's a very dark-colored bird in real life. If I lighten it too much it's no longer true to life. I suppose I could claim "artistic license".

No, don't do that. If it doesn't look true then stick with your edit. Personally I'd prefer something true-to-life as opposed to artistically pleasing any day. People cannot tell you what to do with your photographs, they can only suggest changes. If you don't care for them you are always free to ignore them. I like your shot the way it is and if my "Helping" it isn't what you feel is right then go with yours.

 

[fiziwig]

I like it, but I'm torn. The bird is technically "Swainson's Hawk - Dark Morph (or Dark Phase)". It's a very dark-colored bird in real life. If I lighten it too much it's no longer true to life. I suppose I could claim "artistic license".

No, don't do that. If it doesn't look true then stick with your edit. Personally I'd prefer something true-to-life as opposed to artistically pleasing any day. People cannot tell you what to do with your photographs, they can only suggest changes. If you don't care for them you are always free to ignore them. I like your shot the way it is and if my "Helping" it isn't what you feel is right then go with yours.

Thank you for your suggestions. I am a newbie and open to all suggestions. I think I'll stick with my second edit. It's enough lighter to stand out better, but it's still within the range of realistic for that particular bird.

BTW: I lightened it in Lightroom by increasing exposure on the whole photo and then darkening all the green tones in the background to put them back down where they were before being lightened. The hawk was, after all, in full shade, with a little tree-filtered sunlight on one shoulder, when I took the picture, so upping the exposure seems legitimate.