White (Chinese Goose)

[wendell westfall]

D70s 70-200VR+2X@300 1/3200 f/8.0 ISO500 -1EV

The place I often go was closed off due to road work this morning, so I ended up at a small park where I saw this pair cruising the lake. I took the opportunity to practice photographing whites and came up with this image. As you see, the sun is coming up from my right. It was alternately bright and dark, causing me to make varied EV adjustments. I think I got pretty good definition in the whites without blowing them out. What do you think? The image is minimally cropped and tweaked. Your comments, please . . .

Wendell

[Harold Davis]

one of my favorites of yours, wendell!! this is most excellent. love the beautiful water and the whites look great. i might trim a slither off the top. fantastic job!!

[Bob Miller]

Hi Wendall. Love the colors in the water> I agree with harold about cropping. I think the whites look very good to me- excellent detail. You might try sharpening up the heads of the two beauties.

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice, Wendell. Like the water, and the whites look very good. I might just add a little more mid-tone contrast as it looks a little flat to me. Great job on these beauties!

[Kerry Perkins]

Good one Wendell!! Good eye to see this scene and the whites are right in there where they work! Might be just a tad tight on the RHS. Would like to see your images posted larger!! Lovely colors...

[Ron Boisvert]

Hi Wendell,
I think you did really well with your self-assignment - you've definitely protected the whites, and I actually think you could go a little brighter with them. I used Curves to brighten the whites a little, and Select-Color Range to grab the very whitest whites, made a new layer, and used a 50% Multiply. See what you think about the repost. I also cropped a little from the top and bottom, and sharpened the whole image, hopefully not too much.
The colors in the water are awesome, your position seems low, and the birds are very sharp too! I like this image, and agree with Kerry about posting them larger.

I hope you don't mind me reposting; the changes I made were subtle, but might be good for comparison.

Keep sending them along!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Wendell - I agree with Ron - the whites in Rons repost look better to me - Nice work Ron.
Really like the water wendell- agree with cropping some off the top.
Looking forward to more :0

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Wendell,
I like the capture and composition...Ron's repost makes it come alive...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Deborah Harrison]

Great image, I think the repost really helps - it also makes me realize how much I need to improve my PS skills!

[Bob Miller]

Love the repost ...the colors are really brought to life for me.

[Alfred Forns]

Re post makes it pop !!! Did really well on the whites Wenedll and got two cooperative birds, both good head angles !!! Excellent !!!

[wendell westfall]

Hi Ron: Yep, your re-post makes the image present better (makes it look much richer) -- and I welcome it, particularly with your explanation! Please tell me what you mean by "posting larger" . . . how I could do it.

[Ron Boisvert]

Wendell,
Currently we are able to post our images to 1024 pixels in the horizontal, and 800 pixels in the vertical, and must keep the file size to 200kb. Keeping this in mind, check out this thread, and the link inside it.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15654

FYI, it is the third sticky thread at the top of the Eager to Learn Image Critiques forum listing.

Regards,

[wendell westfall]

Thanks, Ron, I'll give it a try . . .