High key Coot

[Stuart Edwards]

I took this while in Merrit Island,Florida last year. There was heavy cloud cover but it was still very bright and the white clouds made the water look white and it was also over exposed a bit to bring out detail in the black feathers. I have probably edited this 15 times since last year trying to make the water look like water but i finally decided to just leave it like it is. I cleaned up 3 small dark spots on the water that were probably weeds floating on the surface , increased the exposure on the iris ( not sure if it was to much ) and sharpened the bird only , not the reflection.
5dIII 400mm f7.1 , 1/500 , iso 1600

[Mike Hitchen]

I like this a lot.
You have my sympathies with knowing where you want to take the processing but just can't get it right - as a fallback this more than makes up for it.

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

The high key back ground really highlight the bird well and the detail on the subject is well portrayed. Lightening the eye in the reflection just a little bit wiil lift this image even more. Have you considered doing this in B&W?

[Alex Becker]

Hi Stuart, I like this -- in particular the clean reflection and the eye. I feel as though the bird is slightly turned away from the camera though and there is a stronger purple color coming from the head than I would expect. Thanks for sharing this!

[William Dickson]

Looks nice the black against the white BG. Nice detail, I would like a better HA, I also see the purple colour on the head area.

Will