nature and landscapes Left behind

Leave a comment if you feel like it.

/Thanks, Martin.

Martin, 

With the light coming from behind, the bird looks pretty dark as do the trees, etc.  It is possible to do post processing to change these values.  I made one quick demo of what is possible.  If you do it you can decide exactly what values of light and dark you would want.

Jerry

Thank you Jerry:) Very nice of you to write and try to help out. But in this case you missunderstood my thought behind this photo hehe. Its actually exactly the way i intentioned it to be. Dark and moody with the dusk and sun looming in the distance. And the bird longingly looking towards it left behind. In Lightroom and photoshop i always look very carefull so that the light and dark doesnt clip through and so that i always have information left in there. And on my screen it looks exactly right.

Its not the typical nature photos or bird photos i know, but that is not me nor my style of photagraphy either if you know what i mean?:)

Thanks though i appreciate every comment i get!

/Regards Martin.

I like Jerry's version for a more traditional image but I prefer your original because of what it speaks to me. The darkened photo makes me think this little guy stayed behind - either deliberately or accidentally. For some reason I think of evolution and this birds predecessors - it seems to fit with your title too. Very well done. Thank you for sharing. :)

Thank you so much Trisha! And yes, i really wanted this photo to be something more than "just" a photo of the bird itself. I really like beauty and landscapes and nature pictures, but mostly they dont stay around in my soul after looking at them nowadays. I want most of my pictures to at least try and say something more than just the beauty if you know what i mean.

And for me when i saw the bird sitting there in its last hours(?) of life, it told me this story and i got these feelings from the moment i was in. The light and quiteness of the place around us was also magical and that of course contributed to the theme and beauty.

Thank you for understanding.

/Regards Martin.

I love this image! I love it as it is. Brightening it completely kills the mood. The re-processed version above looks totally overexposed for a forest atmosphere. That bird is scary. It seems to come back from the dead or to be stuffed. That's a freakingly good image I would like to have in my portfolio!

Before I rated it with a 6 the rating score was 3.92. Who rated it with a 3? I've been experiencing that phenomenon quite a lot of times with my photos on PN. I definitely don't understand why such images get so low results whereas any ugly snapshot of a graceless crude "sexy" or nude woman automatically brings 4.5 or 5. But that's how it goes in our world...

Best regards,

Alain

 

The first being, thank you so much Alain. It means a lot coming from you actually.

It makes me happy that you understood and liked this particular image. I read what you wrote and smiled to myself, because i had the same thoughts about other photos so many times both here at PN and the swedish equivalent im a member of.

Regarding the grades and peoples opinions i am not so suprised nowadays. Im happy as long as i get a comment, and i look that guys portfolio up and then i know right away if i should feel grateful for it and learn from it or just shrug and take it for what it is, just someones opinion that doesnt really understand what kind of photography you are trying to do.

I have made a few tests here and there just to see what people think and my guess is almost always correct when it comes to guessing which image will get good grades and what not.

Of all my pictures the photos with women in it get the highest grades, even if its a mediocre image. Doesnt matter. Then usually if i put a pretty "strong" image up with meaning and depth it might get what im after, a few good comments who understands it but nothing near the praise the more shallow photo might get.

There is a slight difference in this site and the swedish site actually. They are a little bit more "Artsie" and tend to like moody and creative pictures a little more than here. here its overwhelming majority who likes the nude pictures and landscape shots. However i see better photography here over all, at least in my opinion.

This site has given me lots of good inspiration that i stopped getting from the swedish site.

That is why i "moved" here in the end. People stopped giving comments and usually just gave one comment to be able to get one on their own. Not to help or inspire so much. They had that system with 1 for 1 basis. Which is good in away, but now its not working that well in my opinion.

On the swedish site they really liked my bird photos, this one and my B/W one. Here only a few have noticed it hehe. But its fun with different opinions, kinda interesting to see.

Anyhow, enough ramblings from me, im happy you understood my photo and liked it that much.

Regards Martin.

 

I might have tried to frame this a bit differently so the bulk of the bird wasn't against the dark background of the trees. Had Martin moved a bit to the right, I think we could have seen the bird more clearly against the light opening between the trees. Of course, the angle of the bird would have been a bit different then, and it might not have worked well. As it stands, at least viewing on my not-so-great monitor at work, i would have probably increased the shadow detail a bit in post-processing. I also might have tried to get closer (my new Sigma 150-300 is on the way for that purpose), though the space around the bird does help portray a sense of abandonment, which I think was Martin's intent based on the title.

While I understand Bill's point about the bird standing out a little more, I prefer that the bird seems to emerge both from the dark while still feeling part of its surroundings. This, for me, presents a more intimate story and helps provide a narrative. Yes, the subject would stand out more if seen against the light, but there's an organic quality to it as shot that I think works. The lighting is an important player here and creates a nice sense of depth and place, and the line of the branch is strong but not overpowering in its gentle rise from the left and its tapering back down to the right. I like the muted energy of the fiery flares on the right against the more dynamic energy of the main source of light. Though there's a lot of energy here, it is muted and gentle, which seems as it should be. There's a pensiveness about this.

My first reaction was much like Bill's, but re-viewing the photo a few times gives me several different readings (so I can also relate to what Fred wrote, though I didn't yet see the photo in the same way). It's indeed the light green in the background, and the tiny sprinkles of sunset-red on the right that makes a lot happen in this photo indeed. Warm, cosy and comforting in a way.
The bird does seem in a bit a rough shape, not the most orderly of feathers. There is a bit a contrast there with the warmth dream-like colours - but just not enough for me to really jump at me. In a way, I sense the title pushes me to seeing the picture this way, but it's just not a reading that convinces me.
More ready to go home after a long day work, home to enjoy the last rays of sun, relax. I rather sense some liberation, a going-away but not a heart-breaking one. And I won't be surprised if tomorrow I read something else into this image, so all this for what it's worth today.... ;-)

I think the possible achillesheel of the image is that it looks a lot, maybe too much, like an image of a bird, and ultimately, I don't think it is (and the choice of title also implies there is an intent for something else/more here). As a bird image, it falls short as it's too ambiguous for that. But well, I guess that is exactly the quality that makes this an interesting photo.

It isn't a photo of a bird. It's a photo of a ghost in the distant clearing. The bird just happened to be the only witness. The bird skrawked about it for awhile but wasn't heard. Unfortunately the old bird died soon after, leaving no one else to tell the tale.

From a technical point of view IMHO, the image is a disaster that would consign it to the trash bin right away: apparently, the bird is a major part of the image's message and the bird's head is not in focus. And a bright area in the background that draws the eye in with nothing to see (except bokeh). End of story. Not so fast - there must be more to this - there must be art involved.

It quite obviously isn't a photo of a bird, it's something else, something more - taking the title into account. Now I could wax poetically about the artistic merit, the sense of longing for the light (and a nice light it is), being abandoned as the light leaves the poor bird behind (as if it could spread its wings and take off after it), it being confined to the shadows (of imminent death giving it's haggard appearance). I might even find some reason to justify the out-of-focus head with some artistic intent augmenting the image's message. I could do all that and perhaps right a page or even two - but I can't seem to be able to. So it's just me feeling "left behind" by seeing nothing more than technical imperfections that ruin the photo for me.

The image does look different on my laptop here at home, with the bird standing out a bit more against the dark background, so I do see more of what Fred sees, though I'd like to see a framing as I noted earlier for comparison. And as Wouter mentions, the title does tend to steer you in a certain direction that, and without it, one might see this in an entirely different perspective.

My impression at first was that it was a young bird, hence its scraggly appearance, but I suppose it could be an old bird as well, as Lex surmises. Either way, I do agree with Dieter that from a technical standpoint (and I'm certainly no expert), there could be more detail in the head and it's probably not a photo I'd consider a keeper, though I can understand why Martin took the shot.

I hear a lot of young fledgelings cawing and squawing for their mothers in the trees at dawn. Where's my breakfast...?. What I like. I like the mood of the picture, especially the shades of green and yellow and the depth of focus behind the branch. Like earlier comment I would have liked seeing the tail feathers against some bit of lighting. Also could be a smidgin sharper on main subject.

On balance, I quite like it. The bird is presumably a raven or crow fledgling (in itself often sinister) and then the late evening light suggests incoming night and all the terrors that this brings. The lack of central placement of the bird in the light only adds to the mystery, but at least we can see the bird's beady eyes. I find it rather deliciously spooky. It might be even better in black and white. Sharpness seems OK to me at this size but there's lots of bokeh which in this case is a plus by elevating the feeling of dread.

Boy, tough crowd!
While I'm sure it would have been a much better picture if the bird had been removed to a studio with "better" lighting, somehow my sloppy so-called standards accept it for what it is.
Here it is much "improved" - the ghost in the background is muted, the bird no longer merges into the foliage. What a picture a little Huffduff makes, eh?
I think I like it the way it came.

So do I.

In the original critique session from last year for this photo, Martin made it clear that the photo he uploaded reads as he intended. If it seems murky or otherwise doesn't meet another photographer's standards for conventional aesthetics, perhaps that's the point - it isn't about the bird, or focus, or exposure, or cropping or editing or any other mundane technicalities. Two other three edits have been offered to "improve" the photo but these invariably flatten out the depth, or make the photo a literal representation of a scroungy looking, slightly out of focus bird.

I'm partial to bird mythology from many cultures so for me this photo is perfect as-is. It effectively evokes allusions to those myths.

On second actually third look I agree that it has a good balance of light and dark and a litle tension or woodland mystery as mentioned. So I would say it works well for me as originally presented. Hey, I can and do change my mind and commentary. Or maybe have a different eyeball in the morning from that of last night's look... A successful photo, Martin. Good work, sir.

Solely personal preference, but I think I'd prefer something in between the original and JDM's modifications. Regardless, discussing what one might try to do differently doesn't necessarily mean you don't like the original photo, but instead provides some points for discussion. And given there is rarely universal agreement on anything, especially anything considered 'art,' you'd expect every photo to have both its detractors and supporters, and those in between.

I'm the one being left behind in the darkness while the juvenile crow (or whatever) is about to fly into the brightness.
I like the image, but not the feeling.

;-)
Regards,
The Old Crow.

In looking at other photographs of natural subjects Martin has created, I've concluded rather easily that his intent with the POTW was not simply to present another sweet, pretty bird photo. We have to take this photo as it stands, as Lex states. And it should not be taken literally, but symbolically.