Official Photography Thread

[Katy Lied]

Tonight's sunset

Is that a bird in the foreground? Or a rock that looks like a bird?

Female Wood Duck

Boy nobody can bokeh like you bokeh.

[wuapinmon]

Is that a bird in the foreground? Or a rock that looks like a bird?

Cypress knot that looks like a bird.

[swampfrog]

Could try something even more dramatic, quick trip into Lightroom for this, darkened the blacks, reduced highlights slightly, brushed a little more highlight out of the brightest areas, upped contrast a bit. Trying to silhouette the tree a little more. Also gave a boost to saturation of the color to enhance the yellow in the sky just a bit.:

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[swampfrog]

American Widgeon in Fall colors

[wuapinmon]

Could try something even more dramatic, quick trip into Lightroom for this, darkened the blacks, reduced highlights slightly, brushed a little more highlight out of the brightest areas, upped contrast a bit. Trying to silhouette the tree a little more. Also gave a boost to saturation of the color to enhance the yellow in the sky just a bit.:

[wuapinmon]

American Widgeon in Fall colors

KL is going to say that you need a thin strip of something in the foreground to contrast the water. I love the colors here. Bird plumage is so cool up close.

[Katy Lied]

No, I think the half submerged leaf works fine. It's not in the foreground, but the widgeon appears to be looking at it, so it works nicely as a focal point.

[wuapinmon]

No, I think the half submerged leaf works fine. It's not in the foreground, but the widgeon appears to be looking at it, so it works nicely as a focal point.

You know I left those cypress knots in the frame for you, right?

[swampfrog]

No, I think the half submerged leaf works fine. It's not in the foreground, but the widgeon appears to be looking at it, so it works nicely as a focal point.

Portraits of wildlife are similar to portraits of people, so some of the rules of thumb that apply to landscape/scenic shots are not the same. Generally, you want to add some interest, but nothing that is so distracting that it pulls too much away from the subject. You don't need a strong foreground element with most portraits. In this case the water with the reflected leaves are competing, but they were so gorgeous with the evening light that day and then the widgeon decided to swim right through...and the little wavelets in front...then the leaf...

I'm going to play with creating more of a panoramic feel by removing some from the top, and just a bit from the bottom, then it will be a bit more focused on the duck.

[swampfrog]

You know I left those cypress knots in the frame for you, right?

If we're going to get picky, backing up just a bit, getting a little bit lower to keep the right side branches from interfering with the far shoreline, and finally focusing on the tree and then recomposing with the tree left of center to balance the hill on the right would be stronger

[swampfrog]

Another portrait, Kestrel looking over his kingdom

[wuapinmon]

[Non Sequitur]

My daughter likes to photograph food;

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[wuapinmon]

The cookies and milk one is pretty good.

[Katy Lied]

If we're going to get picky, backing up just a bit, getting a little bit lower to keep the right side branches from interfering with the far shoreline, and finally focusing on the tree and then recomposing with the tree left of center to balance the hill on the right would be stronger

:::nodding:::
Also, the bright spot on the horizon could stand by itself without serving as a backdrop to the tree.