Friday Photo
This is a bit of an experiment, using today’s TGIF photo from the GD. (Thanks David)
In theory, clicking the image will take you to a larger version.
Whistling Kite
No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)
Tags: Friday Photo
December 18th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Yay!
December 18th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
This is going to be great. Thanks to Chthoniid and DPF
December 18th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
“In theory, clicking the image will take you to a larger version.”
Works for me.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Took forever to load David.
[DPF: Heh nothing to do with me - look at who posted it
]
December 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Wasn’t that long – you must have slow broadband Razork
December 18th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Brilliant picture. A book, a book of these pics please Chthoniid.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Excellent!
December 19th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Could we make this a regular ‘post your cool science links’ thread?.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Stunning Picture Chthoniid
December 19th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Far too much blue sky. Out of balance too with the subject in the top right corner and no counter focus or image framing elsewhere in the picture.
Quiite good technically but wanting in artistry.
4 out of 10.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:32 am
If it was cropped tighter as Redbaiter suggests, and from experience many Australasian photographers seem to fall into this trap, of concentrating on the subject and ignoring the dynamic movement envisaged in a still photo and not giving the subject somewhere to go to. Since Chthoniid wants to deface the image with his name it needs the excess of blue at the bottom, more than needed to provide flying space for the kite. I cannot see why people want to deface their images when it is so easy, particularly easy in this case, to edit the name out if one wanted to pirate the image … heaven forbid.
Whatever
The presentation, which David declines responsibility 
, is poor. I am like quite a few people on a poor dial-up line so for me it took AGES to download. It is also quite unnessary to have a large, slow to download, file for an image in a blog. You can still get a good result with around 20 to 40Kb for viewing here on the blog. Then the link takes you to say a 100 to 125Kb, or larger for the pixel peepers with HD screens [ I just bought a 1920 pixel monitor yet to be installed 
], file for the larger version which if you have bothered to look at you should be willing to wait for 
I developed this twin file approach for my website[s] though sadly since Yahoo no longer extend their generous free policy my pages have gone …. they were after all simply ‘bragsites’ and I’m not in the business anymore.
Having tried this sort of thing I congratulate Chthoniid on his successful capture …. talking about artistry with this subject matter is silly. It is up with the best of its kind 9/10
December 19th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Redbaiter – Is fuckwit your middle name?
You know as much about composition as you do about politics.
Gotta be a troll.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:38 am
It is merely a well focused picture of a bird in flight. Nothing special. Perfunctory and lacking in style. Nothing about it warrants the gormless gushing I witness here, and I don’t see how it earns any special status as the “Friday Picture”. If this is going to be a feature of Kiwiblog Clint needs to up his game considerably.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
chthoniid, please assuage redbaiter by posting nude pix of Glen Beck and Sarah “Dead fish ate my governorship” Palin; they’re the only phtographic subjects he finds worthy.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:02 am
“‘with the subject in the top right corner ”
Weill I think the photo is great. And being in the top RHC gives the impression that the bird is swooping into the picture.
And the totally blue sky is a great background.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:11 am
chthoniid – ignore the armchair ‘experts’. You’re the guy that swims with crocs and hangs out of trees looking for great shots. That’s good enough for me, and I look forward your postings.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Redbaiter’s education seems not to have included the “Rule of Thirds” which this image follows … it is of course a hotly debated subject in photographic circles …. but despite that it is a principle which has stood the test of time and human appreciation …. though I’m not sure if I appreciate it becuase I know the rule or because it is right
But I do know and appreciate ‘continuity of movement direction’ between film/video shots and its application to the single still image. Yes I do write from an armchair, a comfortable armchair, with the ‘gear’ on a trolley in front of me .. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert though.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Beat me to it jcuknz – rule of thirds.
It can be applied in most photography, but is up to the person behind the
lens to use as thought fit.
In this case it empowers the viewer to use their imagination
as to the flight path of the kite, and on to what its intentions
were at the moment Chthoniid froze it in shot.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I like the dynamic of how the angle the bird is approaching on, flying through and staring at is the corner of your framing. Makes you wonder what the bird is lining up so adds to the mystery of the world that birds live in, especially birds of prey. Well done.
In terms of image download size, since you’re offering two images, a preview and a high resolution image, you’ll find that if you run your preview image through a web optimiser you’ll significantly reduce the file size without compromising much on image quality. Your preview image still contains all of the camera meta-data for example.
December 19th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for the comments. Let me explain why I liked this picture.
First, it is an unusual pose. Photographing a bird turning and starting to dive- while still having an eye as a focal point- isn’t common. I’ve got a lot of straight flying shots- but this was different.
Second- compositionally it follows the rule-of-thirds- importantly leaving an ‘empty space’ for the bird to move into. When you have moving subjects, the rule-of-thirds tends to be a better compositional style. It typically looks weird having a moving subject looking like it will hit the edge of the frame. Wildlife pictures tend to try to tell a story, and that depiction often means a space to move into.
This is complemented by the “lines”- there’s one running roughly from the top right corner to the bottom left, through the bird’s tail and head. There’s another line running along the wings from the top-left corner towards the lower right.
I’ve also taken enough photos to realise that not everybody agrees on what photos are “good”. I’ve been sometimes surprised at the popularity of some of my photos (ones I really haven’t warmed to). And conversely, some of my favourite shots have been resolutely unpopular
.
The copyright symbol I’m afraid, is a result of the honour system (i.e. please get my permission first if you want to use my photos) failing on the web. It doesn’t appear on prints. I’d rather not have to use them, but I don’t have much choice if I want to protect my photos.
The preview photo-size is 108kb. I’m surprised that this would affect the performance of Kiwiblog, given the footprint exerted by RSS and twitter feeds, plus adverts. I can reduce the file size again, but I suspect the slow-down in download may have another cause.
As an aside, there’s a lot more to wildlife photography than just screwing on a long telephoto lens and blundering about in the bush, hoping for National Geographic moments. Wildlife won’t pose for you, and your window-of-opportunity for a shot can be fleeting. A lot of photos never come off. We had a National Geographic photographer down in NZ recently photography whales in the sub-Antarctic. 2 weeks and 2000 shots later (with top-tier gear) the magazine ran with just 3 photos