Now What To Do With It....

[Joseph Przybyla]

My D7000 is in the shop. The D90 backup is not giving the resolution I am used to. So until I get the D7000 back I am going into the files and working on images that I think can be improved, this is one that I chose. A juvenile Great Blue Heron with a Florida Gar. I worked on getting more detail in the feathers of the neck. Did I push it too far? Does the image appear over sharpened? Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S shot at 300mm (450mm FFE)
1/1600 F/8 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 560
Post processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition, blended and smoothed a few dark spots in the background

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Joe - I like how this shows the fish speared. I think you did a good job in what looks like brighter light and brought out good details. I might apply a luminosity mask to tame the highlights a bit more.

TFS,
Rachel

[John Robinson]

Hi Joseph(How can you live without the D7000- I wouldn't be able to eat !!) I reckon just dropping the brightness /Gamma on the head and neck would work wonders. No doubt others will have much more elaborate fixes. The whole bird (not the fish) looks too bright to me, but maybe my gear.
Cheers
John

[Karl Egressy]

Nice portrait shot with great action, Joe.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe - I like how this shows the fish speared. I think you did a good job in what looks like brighter light and brought out good details. I might apply a luminosity mask to tame the highlights a bit more.

TFS,
Rachel

Rachel, thank you for commenting so quickly. I am working on your suggestion, will post the result.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joseph(How can you live without the D7000- I wouldn't be able to eat !!) I reckon just dropping the brightness /Gamma on the head and neck would work wonders. No doubt others will have much more elaborate fixes. The whole bird (not the fish) looks too bright to me, but maybe my gear.
Cheers
John

Hello John, living without my D7000 is impossible. Hopefully Nikon will return it soon. You and Rachel I think saw the same way to improve the heron. I have lowered the brightness on the head and neck. Here is the repost.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice portrait shot with great action, Joe.

Thanks Karl, very much appreciated.

[P-A. Fortin]

Great action shot. The RP based on Rachel's suggestion is definitely an improvement.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wow that was a very exciting encounter for sure! Composition and details look great. Terrific BG. The repost is what I was going to suggest before seeing it. Nicely done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Love the repost, my sentiments are the same as Dan's.

[Binu John]

Great looking frame! The RP is awesome. Excellent pose, BG and details. TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting and offering suggestions. Very much appreciated.