A Narcissist

[Adhika Lie]

A snowy egret bathing in the beautiful morning light. This is sorta the in-between preening shots I caught that morning. I thought the perch is the most pleasing that I had in the series. In most of the shots I didn't get the eye or it is closed. Another thing is that I've got the impression that backlighting is generally frowned upon in bird photography. If it could work some time, would it work on this one? I was careful not to blow out the highlights although I try to retain the bright neck there for contrast and brightness.

Post-processing involved cropping and perspective correction on the bird. It drove me nuts to see the blue water line not level when the bird's leg is vertical. The bird's left side of the body (on the shadow) was given clarity and sharpening boost as well as a little bit warming up on the temperature. Also a lot of cloning patchwork that you can see from comparing the original and the final one. Shot at 600mm, 1/640 secs, f/6.3, ISO 110.

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[Glennie Passier]

Hello Adhika. Wow! This is very nice. I personally love back lit images, just that I can't manage to get a decent one. You've done a great job of cloning. I can see what you mean about the water levelling, but it doesn't bother me at all.

I think there maybe a slight blue cast in the shadows on his back. The only other thing would be that spot just behind his head is a bit bright.

Beautiful work Adhika. I hope we see more soon!

[Adhika Lie]

Glennie, good job spotting those badly done burning. I will fix it right away! :)

What do you think about the head angle? Does the tilt bother you?

[Glennie Passier]

Adhika, In an ideal world, it would seem that the HA is not one that is preferred. However, it is natural and birds preen and you have caught it well. My only wish would be for a bit more of his eye showing...and maybe a bit brighter? WDYT?

[Diane Miller]

Sorry I'm late here -- looked a couple of times when I didn't have time to reply.

I love "different" poses and lighting and this one is wonderful! Backlighting works for me. There are studio portraits and there is life -- I'll take the latter! Great job cloning. I might take a bit off the left and top, but just a matter of preference -- I can't defend the idea. Good job of bringing out detail in the shadows -- I might even consider not going so far.

The face might be lightened with a soft-edged mask and possibly a little more detail in the shaded side with some Nik trickery -- Detail Extractor and Tonal Contrast, used very judiciously and probably masked to that area.

Wonderful to see people exploring the limits! Hope to see lots more of it!