The Look of the Gannet

[Rosl Roessner]

I made the picture at Bass Rock, last summer

f 10 / 1/500 ISO 250

[Mike Milicia]

Love the pose with the raised wings, the fine detail, and great background and DOF !
Very nicely done !

Ideally, may have been better if head had been turned just a bit more away from viewer,
Would give a little more definition and separation of the bill and might have lit up the
eye a bit more. Also, it may just be me but I'd rather see none of the other eye than have it visible but obscured. My eye keeps getting drawn there looking for detail where there is none.

From a postprocessing perspective, seems fairly dark. Could go much lighter without
blowing whites. Also maybe more contrast.

Here's a quick pass at what I mean :

[Christof Ruch]

Hi Rosl,
very nice image, I love the pose and the wings. Perfect exposure, though looking at Mike's version I do agree that he even improved on it. Agree with your composition, I wouldn't crop a pixel here. Head angle has been mentioned.
Those Gannets are one of my favorite species!
Christof

[Rosl Roessner]

I don't know why, but almost all of my posted images seem to be too dark. Can you give me good advice how to get the right brightness? I think, it's a postprocessing problem. How can I go through that problem?

[Fabs Forns]

Rosl, the best way is to do a Levels adjustment, I have a MAc, so for me, I press the option key while moving the slider the opposite way, your image will be black if you are doing the whites (right slider), move it until you see another color pop in the black. Go back and make that color disappear. That's hoe light you can go without blowing the highlights. The same is true for the blacks, when your image will turn white when you press the Option key. (I think it may be Alt in Windows). You can also play with the middle slider, which are your mid-tones.

Very nicely captured, I also see the merging of the bill.

[Rosl Roessner]

Thank you Fabs, this will work with pictures like the one above. But what can I do, when there are no whites and blacks in the picture? It seems to me, as if I develop all my pictures somewhat too dark? You also did mention that in some other postings from me.

[Alfred Forns]

You go with the light and dark tones Same !!! Works fine for most !!!

[Fabs Forns]

It will work in all colors, Rosl :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thank you Fabs, this will work with pictures like the one above. But what can I do, when there are no whites and blacks in the picture? It seems to me, as if I develop all my pictures somewhat too dark? You also did mention that in some other postings from me.

I like the pose and details in this image. Gannets are among my favorite birds. You could also experiment with S/H to bring out more details in the shadows.

[Marko Matesic]

Great look ...I like blurred wings :)....beautiful bird
Well done Rosl :)