Little Pied Cormorant portrait

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

At a local park, where they are semi approachable. :)

30D, 300mm f/4L IS USM, ISO800, f/8, 1/250th, HH, almost FF. 430EX at -1/3

[Justin Reznick]

Great intimate portrait, the details in head are fantastic! The neck and chest look hot and I might clone out reddish-brown spot in the middle portion of the background.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hi Justin
Thanks for looking. Save the photo and check the histogram if anything, there are a few blocked black pixels but not one blown that I could see in levels. Also I fixed the reddish spot. Good spotting there. :)

[Lorant Voros]

Hello Akos. Looking at this and many other photos you don't need the 500 or the 600mm unless you are willing to back up a bit from the subjects :-).
Nice detail and eye contact. Exposure looks good to me. Nice work.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose and composition, the whites could still go a bit darker for my taste. I would also sharpen bill and eye more and wish the brighter spot in the BG around the tip of the bill were not there.

[Todd Frost]

Great details and wonderful portrait of this cormy. I too would tone down the whites a bit. Toning down the bright spot at end of bill would improve this image. TFS
Todd

[Lise De Serres]

The whites on the head are absolutely perfect, amazing details and for me the eye looks great.
Otherwise the whites on the neck seem limit on my screen!
Very nice portrait Akos!

[Ilija Dukovski]

Very good looking bird, you've got nice pose and attitude on this little guy.
I agree with Axel about the sharpness of the eye.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely intimate portrait, Akos. I like the feather detail on the face. The breast may not be blown but does lack some detail - may be a good candidate to try Artie's linear burn trick on.

[Arthur Morris]

I see detail in all the whites on the original post though admittedly the neck is bright. The only over-exposed pixels in the original were the bill tip. None of the whites were over-exposed. For the repost: a 100% Linear Burn on the whites, Eye Doctor work, and some bill clean-up.

Love the bird, BKGR, and the head angle. And as it turns out, EXP was pretty darned good.

ps: I forgot to attach the repost the first time around...

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks guys appreciate your time.

Artie, I read about the linear burn ages ago in the educational forums and was never game enough to attempt. I will definitely now. Thanks for stopping by, :)

[denise ippolito]

Akos, Great advice already given. Fantastic pose and I like the composition very much.:)

[Loong-Tat Wong]

Hi
Beautiful image with superb details,exposure and pose! Love it!

Cheers
Loong Tat

[Leo Berzins]

Wonderful, detailed portrait Ákos. Looks like a very clean cormorant.
I like Artie's repost but I'd also like to see one with less than 100% Linear Burn.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bro, I like these angled poses, and a cute little guy. I like the feather detail around the head, and agree using linear burn does help. Well captured mate.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Akos, what a beautiful bird. Loved the comp but a little too tight at the top IMO. but that might be just personal preference. Killer killer sharpness. For white birds, I usually dial in a little lower flash comp. I am wondering if that would have saved you some PP work here. Surprised to see no catchlight. But I think it looks better without it anyways.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks for looking guys. KD, I removed the catchlight. Just something I usually do if there's enough good reflection in the eye. :)

[Juan Aragonés]

What a cute guy Akos! I like this one a lot: pose, composition, exposure job, sharpness, eye contact... I only whish for a less dark BG (just a bit) ;)

[James Salywoda]

Looks excellent Akos a really nice shot I like the pose captured well done my friend.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Fantastic image my friend, I'm glad I found it.
Arthur's repost is a nice improvement of this image.

I particularly like the elegant pose of the bird, the whites, eye and yellow bill. Composition wise can't get any better, congrats buddy.