merlin with prey

[annmpacheco]

What a surprise to round the corner and come upon this merlin who had just landed with a least sandpiper. It was fascinating to photograph the sequence of de-feathering and observing how and what he ate. After several minutes and hundreds of shots, feathers flying everywhere and at times, a mouthful of feathers for the merlin, he flew off with the remains clutched in one talon...
sharpened, NR, added 2-3 points of saturation to warm and then 1-2 points of blue in saturation to offset the warmth... Cleaned up 2nd catchlight, selectively sharpened the shoulder area, it was a bit soft...

1Dx
1200mm
ISO 1000
f 8
1/1600

[Randy Stout]

Ann:

Lovely light, gruesome prey item, striking feather incrusted talons. Good head angle.

In a perfect world, wish there was a bit of texture or detail in the BG. The color is fine, a bit too uniform to give much sense of depth in the image.


Cheers

Randy

[Isaac Grant]

Hi Ann. The pose and the prey item are fantastic. That Salem mobile is like cheating! I really don't know of other places where this kind of shot is possible. This really is a unique shot. But the colors of the bird are off. There is a strong yellow cast to the bird. The wings should be brown with a bit of a blueish hue to them. The breast should be brown with some red tones in the brown.

I had to mess with the colors quite a bit to tone down the colors.
I added about 8 points of blacks to the neutrals and +2 to the blacks
I reduced the reds and the yellows in the wings but about 50 or more. Can't remember exactly.
I added some contrast to the bird
I reduced the yellows of the legs and the perch
I upped the vibrance of the bird about +10
I added some red to the breast area
Also added additional sharpening at .4 and 75. I don't think I have the colors perfect but this is such a beautiful photo that I think it is worth revisiting the original and correcting the color.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice shot, great details pose and the prey item is a plus too. if you want to top this it would be when the prey is whole and still in one piece. It looks like you have trouble setting the WB and brightness, the original has a yellow cast plus some blown areas to the front of the eye socket and on the feet, Issac's correction is much better and made the plumage look natural but the feet now are a bit unnatural in terms of color, If you can combine Issac's plumage with the feet in the original you have a winner merlin.

TFS

[Isaac Grant]

I fully agree. I did not isolate the feet enough and do what should be done to make them accurate, I just combined them with the perch in my rush to process the image. Came back and edited this. I also did not isolate the cere and skin around the beak. Just worked on the feathers. When adjusting the colors you will need to isolate those areas from the rest of the bird.

[John Whaley]

Great capture, pose and the prey adds to the image. Agree with the comments and edits below. I know it is not done commonly here but because the background is so even I might experiment with reducing the exposure on the background or a slight vignette and or a radial filter around the Merlin and see if adds.

[David Salem]

What a great moment that was Ann, and we caught it!!
Awesome pose as she holds up the plucked sandpiper.
Details look good and the BG really highlights the bird well.
Your yellows are too saturated but the rest looks ok to me.
Isaacs repost has removed all the yellow from the cere and the orbital flesh which is not natural. It actually is yellow with a hint of green. The feet are also more yellow than the repost.
This is a adult female Columbarius merlin which all have yellow on the cere and feet.
Juvies have a green/blue cast to the feet and cere.
As for the color of the back, females are mostly a brown/rust and only get a hint of grey that is usually only seen in the right light and up close.
The rest of Isaacs repost looks great.
Well done

[gail bisson]

Lovely behavioral image. Love the dangly legs of the prey and great smooth BG and catch light in the eye. Perfect HA.
The feather that is caught in the toes is engaging.
Agree that there is a yellow cast in the OP and the BG seems to have a hint of pink in it (which is not the way it was).
Please redo and show off this great picture in all its glory!
Gail