Black Crowned Night Heron...suggestions please.

[Steven Kersting]

Pretty much SOOC.
I'm not sure if this image has potential to be great or not. I think the BG is just "off". Color is a bit too vibrant and "lime", a bit too spotted, and I'm not sure if the twig has to go or not. That much editing on the BG might look "wrong" when done....I tried messing with the color and it didn't seem to work well.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/6032906019_3ff01980ac_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/skersting/6032906019/)
SGK_1809.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/skersting/6032906019/)

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I picked up a D7000 (not in love with it) while I wait for the D4 release...This was taken with the D7000 and the "crappy" Nikon 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 PLUS a Kenko TelePlus 1.4TC.... I was testing the combination as a "lightweight" kit to see if I will end up keeping them.

D7000, 28-300 +1.4TC, f/8, ISO 1800, 1/500, -1/3.

[Humberto Ramos]

The green BG is made by cyanobacterias in the water, normally they have those green color, sometimes a little more dark and when they become to die more brown...I think the bird is too tight in the frame, I would like to see it less tight...

[Robert Amoruso]

Steven,

My thoughts:

1) Head angle is problematic as it looks OK but the heron has the eye rolled forward looking form prey. Some will make a selection of the pupil and using the transform adjustment in PS, align the eye with the sensor plane after the fact.

2) BG is a rather bright green. Try Selective Color in PS. On the green channel, add black to darken it, subtract cyan to make it more yellow. Play around. Selective Color is great way to manipulate an images color tones.

3) Noise in the BG. Run NR prior to other post-processing on the image. NR can be masked to the green only.

4) Stick. My preference is to see it go.

5) Small spots in the BG. Those above the back can be cloned out. Exposure, color and detail on the bird look good - though critical focus does not appear to have been the eye as is generally preferable.

A bit more room at the bottom would have been good so as not to feel cramped.

[Shreeni Rao]

Steve - I dont know much but could you have run a touch of gaussian blur + levels on the BG ? Agree on the crop comment.

[Bob Pelkey]

99037

Ran with your ideas, Steven. I still think the green is off. Great setting to observe this beautiful species. Would like to see a little more room on the bottom. Used the Quick Selection Toll of varying sizes to rid the background of distractions. Used the Lasso Tool to outline the bird from the background to reduce noise. Unsuccessfully attempted to rid the original image of the bright blurred distraction in the bottom right corner. Used the Hue/Saturation feature to adjust the greens.

[Stu Bowie]

Good close up of a skittish character, and the eye stands out nicely. I agree the stick should go, together with running some NR on the BG. With regards to the colour of the BG, I would maybe desat the yellows, it gives a result close to Bob's.

[Steven Kersting]

Thank you all!
I'll have a go at it based upon the suggestions and post the results in a new thread.