American Avocets, Mating

[BillTyler]

This is one of a sequence of photographs of this pair of avocets going through their mating ritual. It starts with the birds approaching. Then the female indicates acceptance through her posture, with her whole body stretched horizontally, and her chin near or even in the water. She then waits patiently while the male shows off his ability to punch the water with his beak, splash water, and preen. Finally, he gets down to business. Nikon D300 at ISO 200. Sigma 500mm f/4 at f/11, 1/320. Palo Alto Baylands Nature Reserve, evening. Male's wing adjusted a fair amount in Photoshop to show detail.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I really like natural history images such as this Bill. I am not at all fussed that it shows habitat. What would have been the possibility of getting all of his wings into the frame? Looks like you were just a little close. :) Thanks for sharing.

[BillTyler]

What would have been the possibility of getting all of his wings into the frame? Looks like you were just a little close.

I could probably have gotten in the entire wing if I'd been thinking ahead more. I've cropped some off the bottom, so there would have been room to aim a little higher.

[Nate Chappell]

Great image Bill, he doesn't look quite as sharp as she, probably from motion blur, I might have shot it with a little higher iso or less depth of field to increase shutter speed, it looks like some of the whites on her back might be blown out a bit. Nevertheless, its still a spectacular shot, congrats.

[Arthur Morris]

While the behavior is way-cool and the sharpness looks fine to mme, the image has several serious problems, which in combination are fatal.

#1; There are many many blown whites. See the clipped portion of the histogram above.

This thread in Eudcational Resources should be required reading: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21309

2- The BKGR is extremely distracting, esp. the dark stuff right behind her head.

3-The light is quite harsh.

[BillTyler]

While the behavior is way-cool and the sharpness looks fine to mme, the image has several serious problems, which in combination are fatal.

#1; There are many many blown whites. See the clipped portion of the histogram above.

Thanks very much for the helpful criticism.

I would like to discuss the blown whites a bit, because I think it may say something about JPEG conversion. I am looking at the histogram for this same image within Lightroom, BEFORE jpeg conversion and export, and in that version, the right edge of the histogram has no peak at the right edge. Using the clipping indication in Lightroom also shows only a few very small clipped areas, not the large areas that show up on the web. I have to think that JPEG conversion has caused a significant enlargement of the blown out areas, and that this is something to watch out for when exporting images.

Bill

[Arthur Morris]

YAW, and yes, JPEGs can increase contrast. When you write, "Also shows oly a few very small clipped areas" that is where you are going wrong. You need to eliminate that clipping either fduring catpure or during conversion with the Recovery slider or as noted in the Educational Resources thread that I mentioned.

If the master file is properly prepared without any clipping then the JPEG will not show any clipping.