Scarlet Macaw (C)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Last year when leaving Gatorland, Dottie and I had to wind our way to the main gate. Our route took us by this beautiful bird. I was not fond of the perch and couldn't get the right angle and background so I opted for a portrait. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 240mm (360mm FFE)
1/500 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 2500 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Karl Egressy]

Nice colors and great details captured, Joe.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic details around the eye, Joe. I like your compostiion for this portrait.

[annmpacheco]

Superb Joe, reds are not too saturated and the detail is top notch.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, brilliant detail, and these guys certainly have those rich striking colours. Nice and sharp where it counts, and exposure spot on. I rather like your decision to go for a portrait - works for me.

[Diane Miller]

Works for me, too! I love macaw portraits. Beautiful sharp detail. I wonder if the reds could use a touch more saturation?

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting. Very much appreciated...

[christopher galeski]

very nice portrait Joseph,great detail,TFS.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, a very nice portrait, if you use the adjustment brush then I would get some more tone back into that bill, it's perhaps not the ideal route, but quick and easy.


I wonder if the reds could use a touch more saturation?

Diane if you flood more Saturation into the plumage you are liable to lose/choke the finer detail IMHO, I would look to being more specific in the adjustment, if there is a need. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Steve, your advice and counsel is appreciated. Yes I use the Adjustment Brush, learning that has been one of the biggest improvements to my post processing. To work locally rather than globally. The little tweaks that mean so much.

I received your email and will open the image in Lightroom and you suggested and study your improvements and subtle changes. I am thankful for your help.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, you have turned that corner, the rest is just building on that new knowledge. :S3:

[Diane Miller]

I was not suggesting "flooding more saturation into the plumage." I am certainly aware that over-saturation blocks up detail. I suggested that the reds could use "a touch" more saturation.

I often see a look in reds that suggests they have been desaturated. In some images, reds and yellows come into LR or ACR over-saturated because sometimes the default camera profile, Adobe Standard, renders them too strongly. That can be exacerbated by the white balance choice.

In that case the thing to do is to choose a different profile in the Camera Calibration tab. (Some will be awful, but one or two will give a better red-yellow rendition with more detail, although it may look a little flat.) Then in the Basic tab adjustments you can choose the white balance and tonal settings that will increase reds-yellows pleasingly without loosing detail. If tonal adjustments are made first, the Saturation slider is not often needed, or not much of it.

A much older strategy, predating the sophistication of today's raw adjustments, is to make a Selective Color layer in PS, go to the red adjustments and increase black, cyan and yellow a little. But this is inferior to gaining the best reds in raw conversion. Here is a quick RP with the Selective Color adjustment done, just to illustrate the idea.

If reds were not too strong when it came into LR/ACR (if that was the raw converter) the main issue here may have been the white balance from being shot in the shade.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Diane, thanks for coming back with the edit. It looks good, when I am at my PC and calibrated display I will look at your edit more closely. Rarely do I use the saturation slider. I use the vibrance slider occasionally, but in small amounts because it wants to saturate the blues and greens too much. Almost all of my tone mapping I do with the basic sliders. Thank you for viewing and commenting, also your detailed explanation.