Juvenile Swainson's Hawk against a Colorado Sunset.

Excellent!!! Great lighting and composition.

very interesting, beautiful shot

Is the background enhancement obvious in this image? Under the

shooting conditions, the appropriate light for the hawk subject

caused the background to wash out and loose detail and saturation. I

used a shot of the background that I correctly exposed a few seconds

later, but I find it difficult to reconcile the different lighting

situations. Comments are welcome.

As you say, there is a problem with the 2 light sources and I think the hawk is too central. Also, too much post and not enough hawk ?.

This looks very much like the hawk was in front of a backdrop at a portrait studio. For me, the different angles of the lighting doesn't work.

 

Sorry I don't have any suggestions on improving this. It looks like you put quite a bit of work into this image.

Is the sky picture taken with the same angle as the hawk picture? For some reason, the sky picture to me as if you were shooting level, but of course, the hawk is taken from a low position. I think that is what gives the effect that the bird is against a backdrop.

 

Also the sun is plainly supposed to be behind the bird but there is no rimlight or halo around it. I think that might help.

 

very nice....i think everything about this photo is successful...i am especially a fan of the color...

I feel like the hawk should not have been placed in the center, but other than that, I actually like the background. It gives it a very surreal feeling; maybe that's not what you were looking for, though.

Very nice... a bit more sky ?

hmmm...A bit artificial. But I like the effect anyway. Mainly because the tones of the hawk and the ski are similar. Very Nice.

I saw this as a thumbnail on the front page and knew it was photoshop strait away, the bird is frontlit when it should be backlit. The only way to get this image to work without photoshop would have been to use fill flash to balance the exposures at the time of shooting, however you can still argue that is unnatural too...

I don't know if it's just my screen or not, but the hawk looks very yellow. Could you desaturate it and the post a bit (and leave the background the same)?

 

Cropping the left side a bit might be worth a look too.

 

Incidentally, what is the source of the light on the front of the hawk/post?

The back ground is a very pleasing gold but I think A dark blue sky with some side lit last light clouds would be more believable. Good Job, I like what you have here too.

I think you have a great portfolio. The color you are getting out of your D-60 is so vivid, very punchy. This image looks incorrect, as far as lighting goes, but it is so eerie I can't help but like it.

Keep up the good work

 

Truely stunning! Great lightning and composition!