Dowitcher ?

[Adams Serra]

Here is another one from last friday at little Estero.

Canon MKIII
F 8.0
1/ 1000
Iso 400
600mm x 2tc
Manual exposure

All comments are appreciated.

[Arthur Morris]

Boy, the thumbnail really caught me eye. Very dramatic yet pure and simple. Powerful. Love the BKGR and all the softness in the foreground and the BKGR.

My problem is that the bird looks like a cut-out, possibly from oversharpening and whatever feathering you did or did not news. Would love to hear if others feel that way. In addition (but closely related) it seems that there is a wide almost undectable halo around the bird and possibly a thin white halo by the rear crown.

Would love to see this re-presented with a bit less sharpening...

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The light and setting are great. I agree regarding a slight S/H halo and there is some posterization in the BG. If not submerged in water, I would love to see the feet.

[Adams Serra]

Hei Artie,
thank you for the comments, i am not a computer pearson, so i try to do the least as possible with photoshop.
Here is step by step what was done to the original raw file.
S/H shadow 13%
some curves adjustment
Hue/ Saturation 5 points
selected background / filter/ noise / median / radius 10 pixel
selected bird sharpen / smart sharpen amount 80% radius 0.5pixel lens blur

[Chris Dodds]

Hei Artie,
thank you for the comments, i am not a computer pearson, so i try to do the least as possible with photoshop.
Here is step by step what was done to the original raw file.
S/H shadow 13%
some curves adjustment
Hue/ Saturation 5 points
selected background / filter/ noise / median / radius 10 pixel
selected bird sharpen / smart sharpen amount 80% radius 0.5pixel lens blur

Think the step that might have created what Artie is talking about is the "selected background / filter/ noise / median / radius 10 pixel" - did you feather the selection?

Gorgeous capture, BTW.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Adams, I am no PS expert either; I just know how to do it the way I do it very well, and to teach others to do the same. It would, however, seem that the problem that I see has come from either or both of the last two steps:

selected background / filter/ noise / median / radius 10 pixel
selected bird sharpen / smart sharpen amount 80% radius 0.5pixel lens blur

Good question by Chris on the feathering...

[Blake Shadle]

Sweet. An image with a simple design that smacks you in the face. I like it. I might "slide" the frame down just a bit, give him more ground to stand on and putting his head a little higher in the frame. Really the love the background and the multi-layered look. Great work Adams. I think you've got the low angle down to a science ;)

[Blake Shadle]

Oh, and since no one has addressed it, I'm pretty sure this is a Short-billed Dowitcher :)

[Glenn Bartley]

Sure is! PS nits aside a very nice image.

[Adams Serra]

Sweet. An image with a simple design that smacks you in the face. I like it. I might "slide" the frame down just a bit, give him more ground to stand on and putting his head a little higher in the frame. Really the love the background and the multi-layered look. Great work Adams. I think you've got the low angle down to a science ;)
Blake, thank you for the nice comments. I was sold on low angle pictures when i saw some of the images that you posted on this forum