Ruddy Turnstone

[gail bisson]

1DX, F 600 II and 1.4X convertor
SS 1/2500
F 7.1
ISO 800
On Skimmer Pod
Full frame crop from horizontal ( so lucky I didn't clip the wingtips!)
I like the way the light is on the head in this shot.
I am in a "no clone anything in my pics" period but now that I look at the image I think I could have cloned out the catch light on the beak.
PP: Crop, NR to BG, levels, a touch of NR on the birds' left wing, DE on bird at 3% and sharpen JPEG with USM at 30/0.3
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[BobbyPerkins]

What a Killer Shot! For a full frame crop from horizontal you really did get soo lucky ya didn't clip the wingtips. Very well executed. I also like the lighting on the head and is why I myself wouldn't clone out the catch light on bill as I think it helps to stand out. Love the position with those sharp lit up feet out of the water. Sweet background and that wave break (if that's what it is) really adds to it. Super shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, great wing position, and the vertical comp suits the incoming pose. I like the colours that we can see on the near wing, together with the falling droplets from the feet. Ive always enjoyed an OOF surf BG, and I would maybe give this a slight CCW rotation.

[Mike Milicia]

Great job catching the wing flap with an excellent body/head angle to boot!

I like your vertical crop but I think proportionately more room on either side would make it even stronger.

I have also adopted a "no cloning" approach ... it can be a very lonely endeavor ... good to have some company!

[stuart wanuck]

Lovely lovely landing capture

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Gail, if my images looked like this I would not even think of cloning!!! Great capture, love the light, love the water droplets, the movement, subject super sharp and nice detail on the wings and feathers - beautiful!

Kind regards,

[Richard Unsworth]

Great POV light , perfect capture of the moment, they just keep coming.....
Apiece of digital ART for sure ;-)

[PhilCook]

Leave the beak alone...it doesn't need cloning :S3: Eye catching display, super sharp and those wings are amazing plus the droplets leaving the feet are a nice touch. Light and color looks great, some of the brighter white patches are verging on hot I think, but acceptable as is....well done Gail, I can see I will one day have to pursue more water bird species

[dankearl]

Not enough superlatives for this one Gail.
Intense and great IQ and details.
The feet are killer....

[Melissa Groo]

Excellent capture, Gail. At first I wasn't sure I liked the strong contrast between the dark and lit portions of the bird, but it's growing on me. Your techs are perfect. I could see more space on each side, would be interested to see it as a horizontal.
Great work.

[David Salem]

Very cool Gail. I really like the landing or jumping pose, it makes a great display of the bird. Your nice techs and great detail in this one makes me keep looking. I like the lighting on the head also and those feet are sharp and clear.
I clone out the second catch light in the eye on shots but I actually like most shots with the catch on the beak, adds dimension, like a good wildlife artist would add on purpose. Well done

[Robert Holguin]

Terrific shot!!!!
Excellent timing. You just captured it at the perfect time.
Great shooting angle and details.
Very well done.

[Joe Senzatimore]

It's a WOW here as well Gail. Perhaps just a tad more room all around , but just my taste.:wave:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent shot Gail great timing, the details are super.
Not sure about DE? what's that?
You indicate sharpen the jpeg, was it like that or did you make a small tiff, sharpen that and then save that as a jpeg? It doesn't seem to matter much in any event as the image is super!

[gail bisson]

Excellent shot Gail great timing, the details are super.
Not sure about DE? what's that?
You indicate sharpen the jpeg, was it like that or did you make a small tiff, sharpen that and then save that as a jpeg? It doesn't seem to matter much in any event as the image is super!

Hi Jonathan,
DE is detail Extractor which is a plug-in on NIK EFEX.
I use DE on the TIFF.
I convert the TIFF to JPEG then sharpen with USM. I am very conservative with USM 30 to 40/0.3/0. Artie often uses 80 to 100/0.3/0
Thanks for the comments everyone,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jonathan,
DE is detail Extractor which is a plug-in on NIK EFEX.
I use DE on the TIFF.
I convert the TIFF to JPEG then sharpen with USM. I am very conservative with USM 30 to 40/0.3/0. Artie often uses 80 to 100/0.3/0
Thanks for the comments everyone,
Gail
Thanks Gail, I understand now what is meant by DE. As I said the image is great but I would suggest that saving a jpeg as another jpeg is not best practice as a jpeg is a compressed image so you are compressing an already compressed image whereas if you resized the tiff to web size and sharpened that and saved that as a jpeg it would be "better"quality.

[BobbyPerkins]

Think your confused Jonathan. She didn't save a jpeg to a jpeg, the second half of your suggestion is what she said she did.


USM 30 to 40/0.3/0 is very conservative, as far as IQ that's impressive. Artie often uses as much as 140/0.3/0.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Bobby, thanks for explaining:-
Gail wrote "I convert the TiFF to JPEG, then sharpen with USM" now having done this if the file is not saved it remains unsharpened, I assumed that once the file had been sharpened it would have been saved - maybe I am wrong in this assumption.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Bobby, thanks for explaining:-
Gail wrote "I convert the TiFF to JPEG, then sharpen with USM" now having done this if the file is not saved it remains unsharpened, I assumed that once the file had been sharpened it would have been saved - maybe I am wrong in making this assumption.

[gail bisson]

Hi John and Bobby,
Sorry i didn't respond sooner but work gets in the way!
Jonathan,
I work on the TIFF in CS5, do all my stuff including DE, then I convert the image to a JPEG ( saved it in LR4) that is sized for BPN and sharpen that JPEG.
I am not sure how else to explain what I do! I do not sharpen the TIFF
gail

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great action here and your low angle makes the turnstone bigger than life. I too would have liked more room but would be happy with this as presented. Glad to hear you are taking a new path for now with no cloning.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Gail that's fine I understand

[Arno Ellmer]

All has been said ,Gail. What a superb capture ! Congrats.The detail is superb and I love the posture and droplets.

[Frank Schauf]

Fantastic. Wonderful pose, colors and background.