Back in black - Spoonies.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A group of spoobills were feeding in the shade of some mangroves, except these four were illuminated by a patch of light - the reflections on the water caught my eye and I decided to compose the image with those in mind. As the BG and water in the original RAW are already almost black with very few other elements except the reflections I decided why not go all the way black!! Adjusted the black "levels" slider, then cloned out a few very dark leaves in URC, and a very faint shoreline going across the birds was also eliminated.

Canon 40D + 100-400 @400mm, manual exposure, aperture priority, 1/2000s., f/6.3 (don't know why I didn't stop down more, but luckily because of the fair distance all four birds are sharp), ISO 500, histogram checked with birds exposed to the right, handheld.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/dancad/tn_RoseateSpoonbill_0379-01.jpg

[Greg Basco]

Outstanding result, Daniel. I love images like this, and you did extremely well here!

Congrats,
Greg Basco

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Very nice. Good head positions on all four. I esp. like the 2nd from right. The contrast between the birds and the backgrounds really sets them off. This is one I would really like to see bigger, I think the impact would be much greater.

To quote a famous Canadian photographer I know "well seen"

Cheers

Randy

[Joe Senzatimore]

Outside the box and very dramatic. Works great!!!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the composition and idea even though I'm not a big fan of black BGs.

[Doug Brown]

I like it Daniel! The black BG works great IMO.

[James Shadle]

Dan,
I like too. Well seen and well captured.
In cases like this have you tried the burn tool? An old chemical darkroom technique.
James

[Bonnie Block]

Interesting image, Daniel--superb job of creating it. I agree, this one needs to be seen larger to appreciate it.

[Steve Canuel]

Nicely done. Nice contrast of color, light, and dark.