Excellent course

[PeterS]

Hi Hayo,
Great course this weekend and good idea to create the forum.
I'm very happy with many of the photos I took and we were lucky to be be working with Carel and his crew. 
Found the shooting tips and guidance very useful, but also exchanging views on camera's, lens and approaches was very helpful

I attach first four pictures below.

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your feedback and providing the first images of the workshop here!

As promised, here's some feedback:

• Harris's Hawk in flight: Good flight shot, compositionally pretty good though I might want some more room below.
  Pity about the “complex” background, but some things can't be helped; they're there. I would give the colours a bit more punch and warmth (WB: Cloudy may work well here).
• Portrait of the Harris's Hawk: Good, perfect focus on the eye! I always find it hard to get nicely compositioned portraits of birds. This one is pretty nice, though it does feel slightly imbalanced (perhaps add a bit more room to the left?) – not sure myself though 
  Colour could use some warming too here. It was overcast, and somehow many cameras – certainly most Nikons – tend to make these too “cold”
• “Action:” Fun shot 
• Kestrel: Good portrait, again perfect focus on the eye. Composition feels balanced, though I would crop something off the top and make it a landscape-orientation image (not a big fan of square images myself).

Please note that all my comments are my personal opinion, so please feel free (nay: encouraged) to disagree!

[PeterS]

Thanks. Very helpful. I'll certainly experiment with the crops and white balance temperature suggestions. I was also boosting saturation and vibrancy on the portraits by about 10%, to bring out the yellows, for example, in the eyes of the rabbit owls.

One thing I noticed with quite a few of the water photos was that Lightroom was boosting the detail when I tried  automatic adjustment, while also adjusting the light and giving the picture a greenish twinge. This was the case with the first bird in flight shot. Not seen Lightroom adjusting detail automatically before, though I've used it for years.

Only other comment on your comments is the suggestion to late the background spot behind the barn owl less visible. in fact I quite lacked it as it was the outline of the Harris Hawk on the perch behind.

pleased with the 80-400 lens, both it's sharpness and the backgrounds when shooting wide open.

looking forward to seeing some of the other photos - good luck with your backlog.

[Hayo Baan]

Thanks. Very helpful. I'll certainly experiment with the crops and white balance temperature suggestions. I was also boosting saturation and vibrancy on the portraits by about 10%, to bring out the yellows, for example, in the eyes of the rabbit owls.

You're welcome!

One thing I noticed with quite a few of the water photos was that Lightroom was boosting the detail when I tried  automatic adjustment, while also adjusting the light and giving the picture a greenish twinge. This was the case with the first bird in flight shot. Not seen Lightroom adjusting detail automatically before, though I've used it for years.

Hmm, I never use auto adjustments so have never noticed this (besides, I basically only use Lightroom/Adobe Camera Raw for a limited set of images (not shot with a Nikon) and to be able to teach it; all my other raw editing is done in Capture NX2).

Only other comment on your comments is the suggestion to late the background spot behind the barn owl less visible. in fact I quite lacked it as it was the outline of the Harris Hawk on the perch behind.

Ah, I see why you liked it, still I'd tone down the bright area a bit then as it really distracts (me).

pleased with the 80-400 lens, both it's sharpness and the backgrounds when shooting wide open.

Yes, it definitely is a very good lens. Who knows, I'll upgrade the one I currently own to the new one too; it really is that much better (just wish it wasn't so damn expensive).

looking forward to seeing some of the other photos - good luck with your backlog.

Ellen's already posted a couple of hers, really nice! Over the next few weeks I hope to be able to work on mine too