Eremophila alpestris - Horned Lark

[Jan van Holten]

A good number of years ago, a group of Shore Larks stayed on one of the beaches that are at an acceptable distance from my home. That is to say, a few dozen kilometers. The species is a scarce winter guest here.
The birds mainly stayed in a field with dead Glasswort. Getting the birds "free" and with a quiet background was therefore an impossible task. So I tried to process them in the vegetation,..... the natural habitat. The backlight (front left) provided this somewhat surprisingly colored image.

• Canon EOS-1D X
• EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
• ƒ/5.6
• 700mm
• 1/500s
• ISO 400
• Flash not fired
• Fri, 11 January 2013 3:59 PM
• Jan van Holten
• Capture One Macintosh

 

[Colin Driscoll]

A nice experiment, difficult to pull off. The twig in front of the bird is the main problem for me. The distracting bright patches at the top are easy to eliminate.

 

[Colin Driscoll]

Interesting that a bird shares the same genus as a plant endemic to Australia.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jan, I like the composition where the subject is moderately sized, but in keeping with the overall framing with some nice space all round. In addition you do indicate that early morning, etherial look & feel, but it needs more.

There are a few issues, easily address and obviously as Colin mention the first is the sphere, no need to delete just tone back to a much lesser distraction, ditto the one to the left of the head. The white balance is off, skewing the colours and also as per your previous posting reducing the blue is helpful. You need to think about creating a layering which adds depth, so you have FG, Mid ground, BG doing this helps to build a 3D from a 2D image, as presented its just flat.

TFS
Steve

 

[Jan van Holten]

Hi Jan, I like the composition where the subject is moderately sized, but in keeping with the overall framing with some nice space all round. In addition you do indicate that early morning, etherial look & feel, but it needs more.

There are a few issues, easily address and obviously as Colin mention the first is the sphere, no need to delete just tone back to a much lesser distraction, ditto the one to the left of the head. The white balance is off, skewing the colours and also as per your previous posting reducing the blue is helpful. You need to think about creating a layering which adds depth, so you have FG, Mid ground, BG doing this helps to build a 3D from a 2D image, as presented its just flat.

TFS
Steve

This photo was taken at the edge of the dunes and some water. Those are the light balls.
I have already changed quite a bit for my liking and that has mainly to do with the fact that an AI tool works quite well. The photo is not perfect, but not every photo has to be competition-worthy. This is the landscape in which the bird is located. If I have to edit a photo even more than what I have done now (removing disturbing spots), the photo is no longer worth it to me and I will throw it in the trash! I find this acceptable. If an editor wants to use this image, he can remove the elements that he finds disturbing as far as I am concerned.
I will play with the blue again, but apparently you see this better than I do.
By the way, this was not at sunset/sunrise, but for a moment I had a strange filtered winter sun. It clearly makes the photo different!

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Jan ... apart from the blues , which I would remove or neutralize , does the image work for me .
Would agree about your thoughts of cleaning up and stuff removal , I am also stepping ever so often into that trap .... triggered by comments and /or publications across the web . As polishing has never been easier than today .... it even more popular than in the past .
Nice to see a different species .
Glad you managed a clear shot with the low angle

TFS Andreas

 

[Brian Sump]

Jan, so ironic that you posted this as I literally just finished processing a Horned Lark I shot during a blizzard. I have always really liked these larks as the "horns" are so iconic and identifiable.

Much of my sentiment has been expressed above, so I'll spare repeating but I do appreciate the attempt here at the subject in habitat.