Avocet Staredown

[Brian Sump]

186493

Another morning shot at an incoming Avocet. The light was flat so not quite as much orange as we get at water level in first sunlight.

Would've liked to get wings in focus but learning I need to decrease aperture for closer subjects. The blue on the top of wings by flight feathers was there in the raw file, not sure why.

D850
Sigma 500mm
HH
ISO 560
1/3200
f4

Edited in C1P w/ basic exp, whites and contrast. PS cleaned up bkg and curves, sharpening. DNAI on bkg.

[dankearl]

Wow.
I don't care what is in focus, the head is, great shot...
Whites a bit hot on wings, I would live with that.
BG is awesome.
Processing looks just right. Nice work.
Bird photography is not that complicated, get the shot, you did.
No masks, No BS.
Your gear good enough, I have friend with D500 and sigma 150-600.
Better than I am.

[arash_hazeghi]

you got the breeding plumage and a nice post too, agree whites a bit hot but looks good otherwise. agree with self critique that the avocados look more handsome in nice warm sunlight

TFS

[Colin Driscoll]

you got the breeding plumage and a nice post too, agree whites a bit hot but looks good otherwise. agree with self critique that the avocados look more handsome in nice warm sunlight

TFS

That's got to be the funniest auto correct I've seen for a while :bg3:

Oh, and very good shot Brian.

[Randy Stout]

I at first thought avocados was a nickname for that avocet, but I am sure you are right Colin!

Brian: for me it is the pose, with angled wings, extended legs and down the barrel head angle that makes it work. Background tones play off the birds colors too.

Cheers

Randy

[Jonathan Ashton]

You nailed the focus, the colours look a little odd to me but you indicated tat may be due to the time of day.

[gail bisson]

Great pose, nice BG and great to have the head so sharp.
I see a magenta cast in the darks of the wings.
Easy fix- just select the area, go to color balance, move the magenta slider down a point or two,
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

That's got to be the funniest auto correct I've seen for a while :bg3:

Oh, and very good shot Brian.

:D auto complete does wonders

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Brian ... nice incoming flight pose , I like the wing position and the dangling feet .
Not knowing the species in terms of color , do they have that blue legs ???

Here on my screen .. I feel the WB is OFF and the exposure can go down by 1/3 stop .
And you can play some gimmick stuff ... even inside of C1 to get more detail in those whites with the onboard lumo masking . There is a large gap on the left side of the histogram so you might even push the black point slightly to the middle .... but gently :w3

The Blue in the wings is coming from ... the in camera white balance and the color interpretation of the C1 is pushing in this case the blues .... explained in my simple words . In fact it is technically way more complex ..... to explain .

TFS Andreas

[Gary Esman]

Very nice shot Brian. Who won the stare down? Head and beak are nice and sharp.

Gary.

[Brian Sump]

Hi Brian ... nice incoming flight pose , I like the wing position and the dangling feet .
Not knowing the species in terms of color , do they have that blue legs ???

Here on my screen .. I feel the WB is OFF and the exposure can go down by 1/3 stop .
And you can play some gimmick stuff ... even inside of C1 to get more detail in those whites with the onboard lumo masking . There is a large gap on the left side of the histogram so you might even push the black point slightly to the middle .... but gently :w3

The Blue in the wings is coming from ... the in camera white balance and the color interpretation of the C1 is pushing in this case the blues .... explained in my simple words . In fact it is technically way more complex ..... to explain .

TFS Andreas

Andreas, yes they do have a blue/gray color in their legs.

I am just not comfortable using the C1P masking yet. Continue to learn about it though...

[Brian Sump]

Thank you everyone. We know the bird always wins :-)

[John Mack]

Love the pose here. Nice head on view. The background is right on.

[Arthur Morris]

you got the breeding plumage and a nice post too, agree whites a bit hot but looks good otherwise. agree with self critique that the avocados look more handsome in nice warm sunlight

TFS

Why are you mentioning vegetables???

a

[Arthur Morris]

This is quite a good image. Super sharp where it counts and a lovely background. Sometimes the technical advice here is too technical for me :) In other words, the color and contrast look fine.

a