Rock Ptarmigan- male

[gail bisson]

Taken in Iceland this past June on another cloudy,dark day!.
Canon 1 dx 600mm and 1.4 x
ISO 2000 SS 1/2000 @5.6
Crop to 80% FF. Cloned out 2 small flower heads along the bottom of the frame.
HH from car.
Processed in LR CC and PS CC
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Aditya Sridhar]

Another beauty, Gail! Love the colors and the smooth BG. I like the perch, especially the tiny hint of yellow moss. Composition is subjective, but personally, I'd add just a bit of room to the bottom and take some off the top - as presented, I feel like the bird's sitting too low in the frame. I'd also increase the brightness, particularly on the bird's face. Details and other techs look great. Awesome stuff!

[gail bisson]

Once again Aditya, you have offered excellent advice. Here is a redo with your suggestions. It looks a lot better.

[Aditya Sridhar]

I love the repost, Gail! No nits :bg3:

[John Mack]

Love both but the repost does take it up another notch or two. Killer background.

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Lovely frame, Aditya gave good re the framing. I was OK with the original brightness .

Very nice background, shooting angle.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Great bird, perch, and BKGR. Perhaps the face could be opened up a bit more ...

with love, arie

[Colin Driscoll]

Lovely shot with the re-post a winner. Nice proud pose, perch and BG.

[dankearl]

I would take some off the top and lighten the face of the first image...
Excellent subject at level POV.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Gail, a rock with a Rock Ptarmigan... lovely image. I like everything about it. Thank you for sharing.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gail, like the framing and killer background, however to me there appears to be a yellow cast overall. Appreciate, I wasn't there so just making an assumption, but taking a more 'cooler/neutral' look to the perch, addressing both Contrast and Blacks, the face opens up and the colour to me, looks a lot cleaner, haven't touch Exposure. Now this could go warmer if you feel, just thought it may help?

TFS
Steve

[Alex Becker]

Awesome view of this bird. I love the pose and the rock. The lichen is so nice. Love that we can see the bird's feet / claws clearly. I agree with the yellow cast and Steve's RP is sweet. BG colors are awesome. TFS

[gail bisson]

Hi Steve,
Thanks for your observations and the redo. Agree with the yellow cast but feel that your version is too cool. The field was definitely golden IRL. So, I reduced the white balance by 300 points ( from 5750 to 5450) and reduced the yellows in the whites. The gold color in the BG stays!
WDYT?
Gail

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gail, I can only go so far in my thinking as I said wasn't there and I would have loved to have photographed this subject, but simply going by the cast I saw in the OP and your description of 'June on another cloudy,dark day!' as the image I feel does not look/appear dark.


I reduced the white balance by 300 points ( from 5750 to 5450) and reduced the yellows in the whites.

The solution might not be simply adjusting the WB, as you could perhaps be introducing the same issues as per the OP, but you may find that say using aLayered masks ie - Colour balance, targeted Saturation, Luminace may offer better results and avoid more Global changes, just a thought.

Steve

[Bill Dix]

What a beauty of a pose, with great perch and background. Aditya's observations were spot-on, and your repost addressed them nicely. To my eye Steve's RP feels too cool (but like him, I wasn't there). Your last RP looks gorgeous.

[Dorian Anderson]

Late to the party, so you've already added more rock and cooled the image a bit. I'll go a bit further and ask for more rock if you have it! It's so nice!

[William Dickson]

Gail...Lovely capture...I would love to photograph these birds, and I would swap any of my Red Grouse for this :S3: I have to say, that Steves repost, on my monitor looks real good. Beautiful detail, pose and HA. Very well done.

Will

[arash_hazeghi]

pretty cool bird and a nice perch to top it off, the original does look like it has a yellow cast but I have never seen this bird so I am not sure which one's more accurate. The whites in Steve's repost are definitely closer to white but not sure how the real bird looks like

TFS