TriColor Heron Landing

[Michael Stern]

Hi,
Well this is my first attempt at compiling 3 images together...I did not use automerge in CS3..(I tried but could not make it work) I did it by "hand"...not sure what a print will look like however please feel free to share comments and suggestions...!! Photo was taken this past Sunday.
Thank you for looking...!!
Best to All,
Michael
PS I have at least 2 more of this sequence after it landed - one with the wings tucked in and the next with his head dipping to pick up a minnow, however thought that might be too many images for one photo....??

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Michael,

I agree that 3 frames where good for this post otherwise it gets too small. But for home printing, do more. I have sequences of Sandhill Cranes landing from Bosque 72 inches long.

You hand stitching looks good. BTW, for my sandhill crane image, I hand stitched it too. PS cannot work it out and I don't expect it too.

Because the light is coming from behind, it is very strong with deep shadows on the bird. I like the drama and graphic look but want to give you some additional ideas for processing so did the following on the repost.

1) Reverse S-Curve using a curves adjustment.
2) Levels adjustment to lighten it up. Using center midtone slider.
3) Selective Color where I added black to the black and neutral channels.
4) Shadows/Highlights on a BG copy where I did a bit of shadow correction and added midtone contrast with the dedicated slider.

If you go to this link you will see specifics on this corrections.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434

If you have any questions on the processing please let me know. If you have it, I would add more room to the front of the image to the bird has room to land into.

I think you want to be, tonality wise somewhere between where I reposted and what you posted.

[Michael Stern]

Dear Bob, Wow, Great..thank you...I had to add canvass a couple of times to accomodate for the width. My "original" size is 12 x 40....Kind of would like to make it 18 high but not sure about that. The changes you made are excellent and I will try to apply same to the original. I will try all of your modifications...and hope to match yours.
Thank you again,
Michael

[Robert Amoruso]

You are welcome Michael.

[David Kennedy]

Michael,
I'll admit that I've not attempted an image like this myself, but I do wish that it had been framed a little more loosely so that the reflections were included in the frame.

[Michael Stern]

Hi David,
Yes it would have been nice, however in this particular case the reflections were not cut off..this is the way the images were taken...actually I had more room at the top...
Thank you for taking the time to look and critique!
Michael

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Funny, with pano images I always think about landscapes, but this works very well too! I believe the best presentation lies somewhere between your version and Robert's.

[Bob Ettinger]

I have to agree with David that in this case I would like more of the reflections. Having said that, it is well done and no evidence of the stitching. Robert's repost is a plus.

[Ed Grella]

Nice shot's!