Night Sky Reflections
by MacDonald

Comment by DrAchoo:
very interesting. I can't quite figure it out, unless the mothership was hovering overhead...7

Redtail not eating
by MacDonald

Comment by Marjo:
Great capture!

Great Blue Heron
by MacDonald

Comment by missinseattle:
wow! this is a great capture!

Night Sky Reflections
by MacDonald

Comment by KingWampum:
Hey, this makes me a bit dizzy. Good use of duotones. Looking forward to reading about how you did this.

Redtail - re-edit
by MacDonald

Comment by Rando D300:
I agree with Macrothing 's #2 it needs some flying room .

Redtail - re-edit
by MacDonald

Comment by MacDonald:
I agree with macro's critique and will be removing this re-edit in a few days

Bee - up front
by MacDonald

Comment by MacDonald:
I re-cropped the shot at your suggestion (see the new posting)- tell me what you think if you revisit ... thanks macro for being so indepth with your critique(s)

Night Sky Reflections
by MacDonald

Comment by BakerBug:
Very cool shot! I'll be very interested to find out how you did this.

Redtail - re-edit
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
This is good too - and I did try to look for the original of this but could only find:



which, as you know, I thought was a very good shot.

At any rate, two things 'in my opinion' for this. Firstly I am not sure on the natural coloring of the red-tailed hawk, perhaps this shot depicts the true color better than the above posted, not sure. However (2), this seems a little 'stark', if that makes sense, it's good but - just seems to need maybe some more space 'somewhere' or - not sure. The other one, while perhaps not as vivid, just has a little extra in my opinion, whether it is the fact that the hawk is looking more toward the camera, or the sky color or the added context/more balanced composition - not sure. Just my opinion anyway and could be wrong and really haven't touched on any true technicals - and you know why. Hope this helps.

Bee - up front
by MacDonald

Comment by macrothing:
I like this, 'but' - (and this may sound contradictory to my other comments) - this seems just a fraction oversatured, but it may be the bright lighting. There seems to be a touch of grain, so maybe 'zooming out' just a fraction (in pp obviously) - depending what you have to work with - may help this, otherwise maybe manually 'painting'/softening using a tool/brush in pp. For presumably hand held it's a good capture, with fairly good detail for a macro in natural conditions. Don't intend to be 'painful', but if you know the name of the flower would be good - as I can't quite place it, and no it doesn't matter, I'm just 'wondering'. Also, another reason for 'zooming out', would be that it may balance out the shot a little more, perhaps slightly off-centering the bee may give this a little more overall. Whether more space left or right, not sure - in my opinion, a fraction more space to the right of the wings and some more flower incorporated would probably be good - but again depends what you have originally. I'd hazard a guess that given the ranges in this shot, it is likely a difficult one to adjust the lighting/color/etc in pp.