First Light

[Harold Davis]

going through some old files and found this one taken last december on tigertail beach. i processed it and something doesnt quite seem right. it seems under yet if i try to go lighter i blow the whites. any ideas?

D300, bigma at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/640s, -0.3EV, ISO 400.

i had to recover a few blown highlights and i cleaned up the foreground and background a little.

thanks for looking. comments and critiques much appreciated!

[Gail Spitler]

Hi Harold. In Levels, did you try moving the center pointer to the left? Not very sophisticated, probably you already looked at that. I found the same thing as you did - as soon as you move the white point, it clips the whites. Nice composition, good detail. Might try sharpening a bit more.
Cheers
Gail

[Harold Davis]

thanks gail....i did try exactly that. i think maybe it's just some dark sand!!

[Alfred Forns]

... hi Harold You can also clone some texture in the area !!! At the end of the day with warm light its easier to blow some channels !!

Good looking image, would go just a little tighter !!!

[Caspar Davis]

Ithink a tighter crop would remove some of the darkness from the picture and -paradoxically - make the bird stand out more.

I think it has a nice calm and pensive feel. I like it

[Lance Peters]

Hi Mr H - agree with the above comments - a bit tighter for my tastes as well.
Like it.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great HA and low angle. Sharp too.

[Gus Cobos]

A tighter crop will do the trick Doctor...:cool:

[kostas nianiopoulos]

good image , warm color Harold , well done

[Gail Spitler]

Hi Harold - I kept thinking about this image. I am not sure which plover it is: either Black-bellied or Amer. Golden. Either way the streaking etc is more black or gray than brown. So I tried changing the temp, cooling the image down just a bit. That darkened the sand and lightened the bird. Seemed to help. A wee tighter crop did help. Obviously I like the image and think it is well worth the effort
Cheers
Gail

[Harold Davis]

thanks gail!! i will go back and start from scratch. might even repost it!!!