American Crow

[Dave Goldberg]

• Canon EOS R7
• RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
• ƒ/7.1
• 500mm
• 1/320s
• ISO 3200
• Tue, 17 December 2024 8:44 AM

I was fortunate to have good lighting conditions for a subject that I had found notoriously difficult to photograph. The day was overcast and warm for this time of year, so the spiders had been hard at work and the web on the stump was an added bonus.

NR on PR 4, with edits on DT 4.8

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Dave ... a scene from an old school horror movie , LOL .
Really cool all around ... nice details and well controlled tones in the subject . Posing and HA how they " should " be . Cool that you kept the flying spider web ...
Superb BG , i do like the overall cool grading .... but would watch the blues in the plumage and feet/ legs .
The comp or crop is not my favorite to be honest ... but understand you might want to show the spider web or for some other reason

TFS Andreas

 

[Dave Goldberg]

Hey Dave ... a scene from an old school horror movie , LOL .
Really cool all around ... nice details and well controlled tones in the subject . Posing and HA how they " should " be . Cool that you kept the flying spider web ...
Superb BG , i do like the overall cool grading .... but would watch the blues in the plumage and feet/ legs .
The comp or crop is not my favorite to be honest ... but understand you might want to show the spider web or for some other reason

TFS Andreas

Thanks Andreas, I could have gone for a closer crop but as you surmised, I wanted to keep the web in place. Agreed that I could have backed off with the blues. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nicely processed, I see the blues but they do not appear excessive to me, the overall palette is well matched. I am a little unsure over the square crop, clean clear image.... I like it.

 

[Dave Goldberg]

Very nicely processed, I see the blues but they do not appear excessive to me, the overall palette is well matched. I am a little unsure over the square crop, clean clear image.... I like

Thanks Jon. The feedback here has been very helpful.

I realize that it’s a matter of personal preferences and aesthetics, but I’m not sure I understand the objections to square crops.

I usually freehand the crop so it looks right to me and will set it to a fixed aspect ratio if I decide to print it. Sometimes the crop follows a traditional frame size and other times it’s closer to a square.

 

[Brian Sump]

Hello Dave, a very simple representation of this common subject.

A pleasing composition and I agree, the cobwebs do add interest nicely.

Pretty decent detail in a well exposed frame and a nicely mottled bkg. Did you do any clean up on the bkg?

 

[Dave Goldberg]

Hello Dave, a very simple representation of this common subject.

A pleasing composition and I agree, the cobwebs do add interest nicely.

Pretty decent detail in a well exposed frame and a nicely mottled bkg. Did you do any clean up on the bkg?

Thanks Brian. Except for balancing the tone and boosting the colors I didn’t have to do too much with the background.

 

[James Babbitt]

I like the crop as the web does add interest. Dirty beak, perching near web-great "crow personality" shot. l do not mind the blue on feathers/body. In certain light this is the way I see crows in my area-a slight blue, even purple, hue.

 

[Dave Goldberg]

I like the crop as the web does add interest. Dirty beak, perching near web-great "crow personality" shot. l do not mind the blue on feathers/body. In certain light this is the way I see crows in my area-a slight blue, even purple, hue.

Thanks. That’s why I was excited about the lighting, which was able to pull out those subtle purple-blue colors. Normally they just look jet black.