Another Snowy

[Cheryl Slechta]

I've been trying to improve my PS skills - I feel like I've started over since I upgraded from Elements to PS5:S3: I read Artie's Digital Basics and have been practicing. In LR I upped the clarity and slight vibrance. In PS I used SH/HL, USM, noise reduction.
Comments and suggestions appreciated.

Canon 7D, 70-200f/4L IS + 1.4X @ 176mm, 1/2000, f/8, ISO 400, handheld.

[John Chardine]

Hi Cheryl- This is a tough exposure but you nailed it. The harsh light made your job even harder. The wing flare and landing pose are great. For the wall I might consider cleaning up the water.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Cheryl, nice capture of the snowy! You got nice detail in the outer part of the wings, but lost it closer in to the body due to the direct sun. In this case I don't think clarity helped you out, as it is actually "local contrast" (edge definition) and made the whites even brighter in that area. I find myself many times adding plus clarity to an image and then taking it away because it increased the contrast too much. I like the pose although the eye is pretty much lost with the down-turned head. I find that the lower third of the image is mostly wasted space, especially with the dead tree part being so large. In fact it is almost as big as the egret. I would crop it away and make a pano aspect of this one. I do like the dark background with the white bird, very striking. If it were mine I would clean up the stuff floating in the water.

[nancy hazen]

Very nice Cheryl. I am right there with you on LR and PS5. I thought it would be easy as I had use PSE, but it is much more complex. This is a fantastic pose.
Nancy

[Jeff Cashdollar]

How does histogram look (any clipping) and did you set points with levels. This is a great capture at 176mm very nice.

Nice job reading digital basics, I refer to that text often.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions (belatedly - computer issues and crazy busy). Jeff, here's a post of the original histogram in LR - no clipping. Also, a repost with Kerry's crop and water clean up suggestions.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Jeff, here's the histogram:S3:



How does histogram look (any clipping) and did you set points with levels. This is a great capture at 176mm very nice.

Nice job reading digital basics, I refer to that text often.