Black Stilt (Kaki)

[gail bisson]

The black stilt is the rarest bird in the world.
Taken in New Zealand and one of the few images I have where the multiple leg bands do not show.I am not a big fan of high key images but I like this one.
Canon 1 DX 600mm and 1.4 x
ISO 1600 SS 1/2000 F 6.3
About 80% FF.
Cloned out one grass under birds bill .Processed in DPP and PS CC.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Nice pose, color harmony between legs and iris, grasses that give it a bit of depth (and keeps the high key from being too sterile).

Excellent shooting angle.

Cheers

Randy

[David Roach]

Simply sublime canvas. TFS

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gail ... I love this one , just because of the HK effect !!
All works well ....for me .
Just one minor issue , or better two .... you have some sharpening side affects along the birds outline ( black feathers / pale BG ) and the bird does look very slightly grainy . And maybe you can dodge that eye a tiny bit more ...

Nice work and clean work

TFS Andreas

[dankearl]

This is such an awesome bird!
This is truly a "thanks for sharing" photo...
Also excellent!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Well. I'm a big fan of high-key, especially when perfectly done such as here. The strands of grass add so much interest. I wonder if the beautiful red eye could be livened up a touch? Perhaps lighten the darker parts of the iris? Awesome bird, you must have been happy to get such good images of one!

[John Mack]

Love a good high key frame. This one is very nice. Framing is right on. Those grasses in the water give some nice balance.

[Bill Dix]

Congratulations! Love the high key, grasses, pose. Wonderful capture of such a rarity.

[Steve Kaluski]

Certainly a different looking image Gail and the HK is very effective here, which I like.


the bird does look very slightly grainy .

Perhaps an effect of NIK Andreas, and or the image being lifted? Changing the Exposure techs in camera may have offered a better result, being backlit.

TFS
Steve

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Gail. wonderful experience finding this bird, I am sure you were pumped. I like the high key, nice treatment. Thank you for sharing.

[gail bisson]

Hi Steve,
No NIK used in this one. I raised the exposure by 0.15 in LR.
Here is full frame JPEG and an image of the sliders I used

[Steve Kaluski]

Hard to tell from the above, albeit that it looks better, but as I said and like Andreas's initial comment, the subject does look a bit 'grainy' in parts for ISO1600, however it was just an observation. :S3:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gail .... and Steve , might be a LR thing :w3 . As I do not use LR ( but use the ACR filter at times ) , I can only share my thoughts on your used sliders in that screenshot .
You lifted shadows , you used Texture ( which amplifies grain ) and you added for sure sharpening .... plus clarity ( what also amplifies grain/noise ) .... might be one thing to think about !!! I might be not right .... though .

Would be good to see a comparison created with the clunky DPP , but do not follow blindly guides and the recommenced settings within DPP :w3.... just look at the image during processing in DPP !!!

Cheers Andreas

[William Dickson]

Thanks for sharing this Gail...Very well captured, no nits from me.

Will