These guys are at the local pond, but are very wary of any movement by people around the bank. I got to the pond at 5:00 today, and settled down under a home-made camo "blanket" (similar to Kwik-Camo). It worked great, and as time passed they got more and more comfortable, getting a bit closer. The light wasn't harsh, but it wasn't perfect either. Above is one of very few keepers from the outing. If you have the time, I would love to get some answers to some questions:
- I exposed so that NONE of the whites from the head were blown out. This resulted in the blacks being too black, with almost no detail. I decided to add some exposure until I could see some of the hood blown out. That's what we have here. Is this the correct way to go about it?
- There was still some detail in the hood, but if I bring it back too much, then it looks grey or washed out. I think you can see some of this in the edges of the hood. Is it preferable to try to extract this detail, or just leave it detail-less white?
- I think there may be a little bit of an orange/warm cast, but am not sure how to check. Meaning, is there a quantifiable way to check an image and see if it has a cast? In LR, I used the eyedropper WB tool and moved it around the blacks. I noticed that there was a lot more R than there was B, but if I clicked on a black portion to neutralize it, I found that it was too blue/green.
Sorry for all of the questions, but I have learned a lot in this forum by just reading comments. I know the knowledge is out there, so any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated! If you want to play around with the original, I have provided it for download here.
Shooting Info:
Nikon D800 | 500 f/4 + 1.4x
1/2000" | f/5.6 | ISO 1600


