Roseate Spoonbill

[Jeannean Ryman]

I'll be the first to admit this is a pretty boring shot (bird on a stick), but thought I'd post it anyway to get feedback on the composition, light, and processing (one of my weaker points). The yellow running through the middle is a the lower part of cat-tails. This was taken Sat. morning around 7:45 with a Nikon D7000/500mm f/4-P, 1.6x TC on a tripod/gimbal @ 1/400, f 5/6, ISO 400 in vertical orientation, with crop for composition and small adjustments in LR 4, then light NR on background, sharpened, and resized for web in CS6. As always, advice and comments are more than welcome. :S3:

[gail bisson]

This is lovely Jeanean.
The HA police will be very happy with you!
Great comp and the 3 colored BG is great. Light is lovely as well.
Your processing looks good. DOF worked out well considering you were at F 5.6.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Jeannean:

Well, tech. it is a bird on a stick, but a very nice one. Soft delicate plumage of a young spoonie, nice pose, comp and processing. The yellow cattail band is noticeable but not objectionable to me.

Well done.

Cheers

Randy

[Clyde Hopper]

WHAT? This is a beautiful Photograph ! Nuff said !

[Diane Miller]

I love the detail and composition, but might want to see just a little more on the bottom if you have it.

I assume it's a very light-colored bird but wonder if coming down a little with exposure would be good. The top/back of the head looks a little overexposed, and lowering it globally might add a little contrast to the bird, especially if done by pulling down the middle of a Curve adjustment layer. But overall it looks like an excellent processing job.

[dankearl]

Not boring at all.
Beautiful portrait, HA is perfect, nice perch,
nothing not to like...

[Steve Uffman]

From spending lots of time lately photographing nesting spoonbills, and capturing them from using their egg tooth to puncture the egg shell to first flights, I would say the color is spot on for a juvenile born this spring....they are very pale and beautiful for sure... Very nice IMO

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image Jeannean,nice light,great BG,sharp,nice details,good pose and perch,well done.

[mohammad reza shahab]

very nice light,great BG,nice details and pose.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jeannean, nothing wrong with a bird on a stick images - thats where they normally perch. Its then up to the photographer to make the most of the opportunity, as you have here. Well exposed, yes to a good HA, and overall good DOF too. Im fine with the BG as is. If this were mine, I would have had a touch more space below. :w3

[Girish Prahalad]

this is a lovely portrait! details, exp, pose & BG colors are excellent. i do see a hint of posterization in the BG.

[Shawn Zierman]

Lovely image....solid exposure work, great head angle, enjoy the way the toe is wrapping around the perch on the bird's left foot...background has nice variation and is well controlled...I'm jumping on the bandwagon of folks who would like to see a little more space on the bottom....or back up three feet at the time of capture:w3

[Jeannean Ryman]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I will add a little room on the bottom and keep that in mind when shooting. Girish, I also noticed some posterization in the background on the "Save for web" file. It doesn't show in my original, but I've had that happen before when downsizing and saving for web with these kinds of backgrounds. Diane Miller explained it in another thread, so am assuming that's what caused it. Maybe one of these days, I'll catch one doing a little dance on the branch. :w3