Skimmer

[wendell westfall]

D70s 70-200VR 2X @400 1/2000 f5.6 ISO400 0EV

This morning I came across a flock of Black Skimmers, Avocets and Dowitchers resting together. A couple times, as I watched, half the Skimmers flew in a quick circle above the group before joining them again on the ground. I got this image of one Skimmer as it prepared to land. It was not the greatest image, so I made various adjustments in an effort to save it. Hope I came close . . . any suggestions . . .

Wendell

[Lance Peters]

Hi wendell - I like the pose, good detail under the wings. You have a good Ha and eye contact.
BG loooks a little dark on my screen and maybe a bit of a halo around the head of the bird. I wonder if the point of focus was on the wings rather than the head area - as it looks a little soft.

If you have the room think I would try and get away from the squareish crop.

Keep em comin :)

[Ian McHenry]

Hi Wendell
I too like the placement of the bird in the frame and the timing.
Might be worth trying with a bit less noise reduction.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Wendell,
I like the capture...agree with Mr. Peters on the techs. I find the image to be under exposed, you need to open up the mid-tones also the eye looks soft need to selective sharpen it...and I would crop just a hair from the bottom and add canvas on top to give the wing more room...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Nonda Surratt]

Such cool birds, they looks like their beaks are fake. Love the wings!

Agree with Lance n the rest

[wendell westfall]

Ian, thanks for your critique! I'm interested in your comment about noise reduction -- something I have had, and still do have, lots of trouble with. I often use a heavy dose of NR, in Lightroom and PS Elements (even though I see no problem) just to make sure I'm correcting for it. Please expand on your observation . . . what do you see that tips you off to too much noise reduction, etc, etc.

[Harold Davis]

hi wendell. i agree with the above comments. although i couldnt see much noise, it was underexposed by about two-thirds. i brightened it up a bit for you. tell me what you think!!

[Ian McHenry]

Woops Wendell
You've caught me out here as still a beginner at editing !!!
However what I do is retain the original and when it comes to NR I try both stand alone Noise Ninja, and Imagenomic free Noiseware set on "Landscape"
I like to try to get feather detail as natural looking as possible and if this results in leaving NR out of the edit I might just bite the bullet and accept a bit more noise than I would like.
Hopefully one more experienced will give you a proper workflow.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[wendell westfall]

Hi Harold -- I like it much better . . .

[wendell westfall]

Ian, I believe I see what you meant by a "bit less noise reduction". Thanks for the explanation. I'll experiment some in the future . . .

Cheers right back at you,
Wendell