Tail First

[Stu Bowie]

A follow up from the shoot with Tony at a local pond in Pretoria. I may have missed last month's theme of landing shots, but only got around to processing this a few days ago. This Yellow-billed duck was approaching us nearly head on, and I liked how we can see the tail skimming across the water before the feet have touched the water.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/2500
F/6.3
ISO 640

Manual Exposure
Hand Held

[Arthur Morris]

I like the pose and the REFL. You did a good job in relatively harsh light but for the blown whites on the top of the wing; were they un-recoverable?

[arash_hazeghi]

I love the tail and the dynamic pose but I have to say the IQ isn't up to your usual standard :w3 TFS still a nice image :)

[Stu Bowie]

but for the blown whites on the top of the wing; were they un-recoverable?

Thanks Artie. I did recover them in Raw, and that area was not showing highlighting when saving. However, I do agree they look blown and do stand out too much. How does one 'tone down' whites like that, that do not show much detail anyway. I am on my work laptop,so cant check now, but I remember they were showing in the 236 area.

Arash, thanks for your feedback. Always appreciated.

[Dumay de Boulle]

I must agree with Arash the IQ is not up to your usual standard but the colors and pose are great!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie. I did recover them in Raw, and that area was not showing highlighting when saving. However, I do agree they look blown and do stand out too much. How does one 'tone down' whites like that, that do not show much detail anyway. I am on my work laptop,so cant check now, but I remember they were showing in the 236 area. Arash, thanks for your feedback. Always appreciated.

The problems with the WHITEs that you describe are common (sometimes resulting from conversion to JPEG when contrast is increased. There are several ways to with apparently detail-less whites: Select Color and put the whites on a Layer and then change the blending more to Linear Burn or Multiply. You will almost always need to reduce the Opacity with those. Or you can add black to the whites in Selective Color are putting the whites on their own layer.

All of those are described in Digital Basics. (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252)

[Stu Bowie]

There are several ways to with apparently detail-less whites: Select Color and put the whites on a Layer and then change the blending more to Linear Burn or Multiply. You will almost always need to reduce the Opacity with those. Or you can add black to the whites in Selective Color are putting the whites on their own layer.

All of those are described in Digital Basics. (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252)

Thanks for your feedback Artie. Much appreciated. Now why didnt I think of that. :w3

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Great display of the wings in this landing pose, neat about the tail dragging during landing.

Agree about the whites.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for your feedback Artie. Much appreciated. Now why didnt I think of that. :w3

YAW. Restoring density and detail in the whites is par for the course; about 50% of all of my images require it. There is something new coming soon though :S3:.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Stuart, good AF job here. loved the wings and the tail skimming the water. well done.

[Alan Murphy]

Perfect timing on this landing shot.