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Big V and myself went to the Zoo today. Weather was excellent and so was the company. Just arrived home a processed a few shots:

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Comments always welcomed.

Fozzie - good images but I know you can do better.
Here's my opinions:

#1 - great capture, well composed but on my laptop monitor this looks a little under contrast to me...some more PPing and perhaps a tad more saturation would bring this image to it's best.

#2 - Doesn't do much for me, it seems soft and slightly OOF, perhaps some smart sharpening in PS might do the trick?

#3 - The head of the bird is nicely focused but I think the OOF wings and the general softness of the image lets this one down.

Hope you don't mind my honest critique.

G'day,

Love the framing of the lion shot and a great expression, WB looks a little cool to me, maybe a slightly warmer WB and a bit of sat...? Looks like there's a fair bit of detail in the eyes too, wonder if you could get a smidge more life in them via PP?

The bird's head in the second shot does look a smidge soft, the claws might be sharper?

The third shot's a good catch for these tackers, you've done better than I would have

Hi,

Luv pic 1 & 3. Great in flight capture in pic 3.

Mark

I wonder if the third one could benefit from some closer cropping? Don't know how much you've already cropped, so whether there's enough detail there is an issue. I'd try concentrating on the head, as it looks like you've aced that part of it

The Lion looks rather contented

Fozzie, mate these are great shots i am glad the pics are starting to come good for you and i know how hard these birds are to get pics of. Well done on your good day out.

Thank you for your honest comments.

I have now reworked shot 1.



Also taken the opportunity to add a further few shots.

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The Macaws are very hard to shot as they fly very very low and fast. IMO I was extremely lucky to get the in flight shot at all.

I know how hard it is to get good shots of birds in flight.......... but you have done very well, the oof areas show movement and the head is sharp, to me a great shot...... the lion is also good........ I love shots with movement........

Love the sat and contrast, but lost eye detail... Good eye detail in these sorts of shots really grab me... Try selecting just the eyeball itself, feather the selection a smidge (maybe 6pxls?) then adjust the levels... Bring the highlight in until the eye looks a little too bright, then raise the mid-point to balance... Takes a little playing but only a few seconds...

Helps bring out the eye detail well, it's tricky, but if you balance the high and mid points OK still looks natural, yet brings out the highlights. Try it, I do it with a bit of animal stuff