Yellowstone Bird

[Arthur Morris]

Not a ton of birds in Yellowstone at this time of year. Denise and I spent three of our four afternoons at the wonderful LeHardy Rapids doing moving water blurs, Common Mergansers, and dippers.

This one was created with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 200. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/200 sec. at f/10 set manually. Created with Auto White Balance converted at color temperature 7000.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Aidan Briggs]

Hey Artie, I really love this image. It shows the movement and colors of the water well. Perfect pose from the bird, and tack sharp. The only thing I might do would be to tone down the patch of whitewash directly below the feet.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Aidan, Thanks for catching that. Though the whitewash was not blown out, it sure looks better with a 150% Linear Burn.

[Aidan Briggs]

Looks much better Artie!

[Marina Scarr]

Repost looks better. Love the way there almost appears to be a spotlight effect on the bird. My first thought was that you had used flash. The bird really pops and the light is tremendous. The golden water really works well as a backdrop for this bird.

[Troy Lim]

Really like the repost. Do you have more room on the bottom? Would it make it even better by including a bit more room on the bottom of the rock?

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all :) That's all that I had at the bottom Troy as I was going for as much of that golden water as I could. But your suggestion has merit.

[Troy Lim]

Thanks all :) That's all that I had at the bottom Troy as I was going for as much of that golden water as I could. But your suggestion has merit.

Ok...I am bad at composition..a lot to improve on.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey, in this case, you were good at composition. A bit more on the bottom would have been nice.

[Troy Lim]

Hey, in this case, you were good at composition. A bit more on the bottom would have been nice.

Thanks Artie.

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous pose and detail on this beautiful species it looks like Steve Metildi was standing right next to you.....:) He has a similiar shot.

[Arthur Morris]

Gorgeous pose and detail on this beautiful species it looks like Steve Metildi was standing right next to you.....:) He has a similiar shot.

Yes, it was great running into Steve and Lorelei (sp?) out there unexpectedly.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the attentive pose, sharp, and I like the detail and colours. Interesting effect on the water, and the bird is separated from the BG nicely.

[Ray Rozema]

Would some one please explain what a linear burn is how it is done/

Thankyou
Ray

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Love that golden water and how the handsome bird pops againts it.
I find the highlights in the bg in the top to be a bit distracting. These could be optionally toned down.
To my [relatively untrained] eyes, it looks better cropped a bit from the top.

[Arthur Morris]

Would some one please explain what a linear burn is how it is done. Thank you. Ray

Hi Ray, You select the bright but not overexposed whites/highlights with either a Quick Mask or Select Color. Then place that selection on its own layer (Control J). The select Linear Burn from the dropdown menu for Blending Modes on the Layers Window. Most times the result will be too dark/grayed out. Then you simply reduce the Opacity. All of the above plus tons more including the complete BAA digital workflow is covered my Digital Basics File. (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252)

[Arthur Morris]

Love that golden water and how the handsome bird pops againts it.
I find the highlights in the bg in the top to be a bit distracting. These could be optionally toned down.
To my [relatively untrained] eyes, it looks better cropped a bit from the top.

Those are both viable options Sidarth. Thanks all for commenting.