Young Black-winged Stilt at Dawn

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

I've managed to capture this peaceful buddy while one of the first rays of morning light fondle its tiny body at 7AM sharp :)

The lens was mounted on a tripod, quite near the ground. This is how I get at the eye level of the Stilt.

M2N, Sigma 300-800/5.6 at 650mm, f/8, 1/160, iso 320.
Gitzo GT3530LSV, Wimberley II, Canon RS-80N3 remote switch, no mirror lock-up.

PP include levels, NR of the BG at a different layer, some slight clone-outs in the downmost part of the frame, and 230/0,2/1 USM for the bird only.

[Doug Brown]

Very pretty bird and BG Nikolay! I've just been in California photographing stilts from much the same position that you were; lying on the ground with my tripod legs as flat as they can go. It makes for some beautiful images. I like the composition here. I wouldn't mind a bit more light on the bird, but it also looks good as posted. The one thing I would do is remove the bright spots in the water. Thanks for posting!

[Maxis Gamez]

Doug said it all. Let's not forget you are allowed up to 800 px the longer side.

Keep them coming!

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Maxis, thanks for reminding me, but according to the upload window, 1024 px are allowed for the longer side? -> http://www.all4smartphone.com/personal/bpn/max-width.jpg

[Doug Brown]

As of tonight, the size limit is going to be increased, so you jumped the gun a little Nikolay.

[Tony Whitehead]

Excellent image, Nikolay. I love the colour palette with the BG echoing the plumage

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I Iove the magic soft/warm light,details,color and angle!!!

[Brutus Ostling]

Having mostly rain up here in Sweden, I find the warm soft evening light on this one really nice.

[Maxis Gamez]

Maxis, thanks for reminding me, but according to the upload window, 1024 px are allowed for the longer side? -> http://www.all4smartphone.com/personal/bpn/max-width.jpg

You are right Nikolay. Let's not worry about it! :D

[Tom Charles]

The glow of early morning light adds to the beauty of this image. I love the low angle as well as the background colours. Stunning work!

Tom

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great light, angle, details and BG. I would remove the bright spots at the bottom and does it need a bit CCW rotation?

[Juan Aragonés]

Fantastic result Nikolay. Very good low angle and great eye contact. I suggest some extra work in PS adjusting the levels to add light to the image (you have a lot of information and details on the eye and the white areas on the plumage looks better IMO after levels adjustment). Big congratulations for such a fine image and thanks for sharing!

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Juan, will you please upload your re-post, I am interested in more fine adjustments :)
thanks for the comments to all of you :)

[Juan Aragonés]

Nicolay I think that this image doesn´t need much improvement because is really good in the way that you presented:). My suggestion is just due to a personal matter of taste. Here I duplicated the layer, selected the bird, deleted the BG and played a little with the levels in the bird. Then selected the eye and copied to a new layer to increase the contrast and light on the eye (this way I can go far with the processing of the eye without burning the delicate white areas of the bird). I performed an aditional round of unsharp mask to the bird because I downsized the image size to 800pix.<O:p</O:p

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

hmmm, very good suggestions, especially for the eye. I did not think of fixing the sharpness and the eye contrast separately, obviously it works, as seen from your PP. The levels adj will see at home, at my photomonitor, here in the office it is hard to comment on colors subject, as monitors are not set for images processing. Thank you very much, I appreciate any other suggestions :D

[Juan Aragonés]

Nikolay, is a joy to play in PS with such a fine image like this. If you need some additional information about my selective processing on the eye just send me a PM and I will try to do my best to help you. :)
I am sure that the original is a RAW file, if so you can do a much better job juste converting the original file to two different versions, one exposed for the whites and the other one exposed for the BG to your choice. Combining both images would produce a very good result and if you check the histogram of the resulting image you will fing almost no losses of information. Blessed RAWs!!!!!:D


hmmm, very good suggestions, especially for the eye. I did not think of fixing the sharpness and the eye contrast separately, obviously it works, as seen from your PP. The levels adj will see at home, at my photomonitor, here in the office it is hard to comment on colors subject, as monitors are not set for images processing. Thank you very much, I appreciate any other suggestions :D

[Raymond Barlow]

one of the finest shorebird images I have seen., I like Juans edit a lot.maybe a little more room around the bird if you have it, and a 24x36 print would look awesome.

[Arthur Morris]

Agree with Raymond and with Jack N.; this is as good as it gets. That cranberry background is superb. A crop from the bottom would make it even better (which is a depressing thought). Juan's superb PS skills have improved an incredibly wonderful image.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Juan, I will definitely write you a PM tomorrow, I think I have couple of questions regarding the things you've explained :)

Thanks to the other people, who also posted their honest opinions :)

[Juan Aragonés]

You are wellcome Nicolay:)

Juan, I will definitely write you a PM tomorrow, I think I have couple of questions regarding the things you've explained :)

Thanks to the other people, who also posted their honest opinions :)

[Piotr Shpakowski]

Excellent work Niki.Perfect light and composition.Bravo.