Turkey Vulture

Added sky in post-processing - shot was taken on an overcast day

rendering the background plain white.

Perfect work! This is a majestic capture! Congratulations. 7/7! My best regards. Sergio

Beautifully worked picture. It carries real punch.

I like the photo. I doubt it would have been less liked with a flat background. Composites are interesting but sometimes, when the clouds are a crisp as this, it seems just a little bit like a diorama in a museum. This is not to disparage the shot. It is a good image, better than good, very good. I guess I think a composite with a neutral grey would be equally powerful. This could be the basis of some controversy about composites--I know, I know. I wish you well. gs

Thanks for your comments.

 

Here is the original shot without the added sky for comparison.

 

Gerry, the one thing I had been debating in the above composite was whether I needed to blur the background clouds more - apparently, I should have.

 

Dieter, outstanding image. Good to see you back and posting again.

very beautiful composition, well done Dieter, ciao Giangiorgio and welcome again

Excellent photo Dieter. It is Just beautiful. The pose is extrafine

wonderful

I looked at the original and in my opinion, the white background gives it a studio quality! So I imported this image into PS and ran a light gaussian blur on the background (I do this a lot to see what various critiques might look like) and I think it looks better with the blur. Just my 2 cents. It's a great image either way. Cheers!

The sky is perfect for the picture - very gloomy and moody! Haunting picture! (beautiful bird!)

 

I'm an artist from Australia and I was wondering if you would allow me to use this photo as a reference for my scratchboard work - giving you proper credit as the photographer, of course. You can see my work at www.elizasart.com

 

Hoping to hear from you soon!

 

Eliza Leahy

www.elizasart.com

Hello Dieter! Long time no hear! Hope you're well these days! I see that you are moving more into digital manipulation. I love this image. The sky has given the bird a stronger presence. I also enjoy the occasional composite when the image is worth working on. In fact, in Durban where I live it's rare to get a moody sky, so when the opportunity arises I dash out with my camera to capture anything mildly moody that can perhaps be used in the future. Keep well. Warm regards, Carole

7/7 - appreciate your honesty re sky. Wonderful final product and it does not get much better!

Great photo, very dramatic. I think the sky was a good choice for this subject, good job.

Great photo of this majestic bird. You have done a great job adding the sky in. Afraid my PS expertise is quite poor, so I appreciate what you have done, as for how you did it - well I have no idea.

7/7! Incredible mood.....

Just came across this one, Dieter. Fantastic. The diagonal elements, the nice empty narrative space below and in front of the bird, and of course the dynamic sky - it all adds up very nicely. Really a fun piece of work - so glad you shared it.

Like Matt, I just noticed this photo in thumbnail version at the bottom of a discussion forum thread.  It grabbed my attention because I've photographed turkey vultures many times here in Texas and never managed to get a shot that actually made the gawky bird look so appealing.

 

Even with the original plain background it's a darned good photo.  My first guess was the finished version was tone mapped.  But the composite looks great.  I'm not sure I'd like it as well with the background sky blurred out.  This version gives it a dramatic sense of depth.

hooo! bonito.

Great shot I like the mood on this one...