Ooh, right place, right time

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 68495
  • Start date Start date
I think a more clued up photographer would have cloned out the random larger birds around the starling murmuration.....
Perhaps he deliberately kept them in to indicate the scale?
 
I think a more clued up photographer would have cloned out the random larger birds around the starling murmuration.....

I would disagree with any cloning in an image such as this, this is more like reportage and should be shown exactly as it is IMHO. If the photographer was entering a competition it might be a different matter but not in this case I feel and should be shown as is.
 
I think a more clued up photographer would have cloned out the random larger birds around the starling murmuration.....
I don't know about you, but I sometimes spill a few grains when spooning sugar from a bowl :D
 
I'm in the "leave the other birds in" camp. They were there so IMO should be there in the shot as posted.

Years ago, I took a few seconds of video of a murmuration at very low level. It wasn't until I plugged the camera into the TV that we spotted the chasing (probably) Sparrowhawk. The other birds might be predators looking for a meal.
 
I would disagree with any cloning in an image such as this, this is more like reportage and should be shown exactly as it is IMHO. If the photographer was entering a competition it might be a different matter but not in this case I feel and should be shown as is.

I'm in the "leave the other birds in" camp. They were there so IMO should be there in the shot as posted.

Years ago, I took a few seconds of video of a murmuration at very low level. It wasn't until I plugged the camera into the TV that we spotted the chasing (probably) Sparrowhawk. The other birds might be predators looking for a meal.


I'm pretty committed to not cloning stuff out of landscapes, but for some reason I don't feel that cloning these random birds out is a problem. On another day they might not have been there. Each to their own, though......
 
I think leaving the excess birds in makes the picture look more 'real'. If it was too perfect people might imagine it had all been 'shopped.
 
Oh. I just assumed it was a dirty sensor. Probably a Canon. :p
 
I'm in the 'leave it alone' camp too. Apart from anything else, it sets off the main subject very well.
 
I`m in the ""leave it as it is"" camp .. It simply looks as though they should be there, plus , with am image like this if the general public finds out there were other stray birds that had been ""Photoshopped"" out ,then you can bet your bottom dollar they will be asking if the photo is actually Real at all .. it may be Less impactful IMO..


Coho-Blue
 
Nothing a wire brush or brillo pad wouldn't sort out (y)


But if you do it in a dishwasher, should it be on the top or bottom shelf?
 
I quite like it, not for any artistic merit but just because it's a freakish image. More intererstingly the idea of how being "clued up" affects our photography has given me pause.
 
I quite like it, not for any artistic merit but just because it's a freakish image. More intererstingly the idea of how being "clued up" affects our photography has given me pause.

Maybe "clued up" wasn't the right phrase to use. It's personal preference; I've removed a few random birds from my photos of starlings at aberystwyth. It's just the luck of the draw whether you get them on a certain day or not.
 
I'd probably remove them, at least see what the shot looked like without......and remember, nobody would even know they'd been there in the first place ;)

In fact, I can't ever remember seeing a murmuration with other species of bird flying around them like that.......:thinking:...... maybe it makes it more interesting?
 
Maybe "clued up" wasn't the right phrase to use. It's personal preference; I've removed a few random birds from my photos of starlings at aberystwyth. It's just the luck of the draw whether you get them on a certain day or not.

Oh no, I get what you meant. I probably also used a slightly misleading term when I posted. I really just meant that phrase made me wonder if we lose something as we gain an understsanding of what form our photographs are supposed to take :)
 
Last edited:
Oh no, I get what you meant. I probably also used a slightly misleading term when I posted. I really just meant that phrase made me wonder if we lose something as we gain an understsanding of what form our photographs are supposed to take :)

My opinion on the photograph was that it is great, but that I would probably have cloned out the random larger birds. That's obviously a personal choice and it's clear that some people would do it and some wouldn't. I've photographed starling flocks at Aberystwyth numerous times and find that that the images are more pleasing if any large random birds are cloned out (they're usually large gulls....) If there was a raptor present, which was interacting with the starlings and actually causing them to flock in a particular way, I would probably leave that individual bird in.

There's quite often an intention involved in taking photographs and I suppose within reason you deal with an image according to what your (one's ) intention is. I'm pretty harsh in my opinions about removing permanent structures from landscapes, though.:)
 
Back
Top