Glossy in action

Taken about a month ago on my favorite trail here in Gainesville. Down on my belly was getting some shots of this glossy wading in the shallow water ... then I see this guy give me this pose and a split second later there is a second glossy coming in from above. I'm too close to capture all the action (lots of jumping and flaring), but I got the pre-action. I like the pose, just wish the light hadn't been so harsh.

In post, I removed quite a bit in both the fg and background. After I was done, the image still looked a bit bright (something that I'm slowly working on correcting) so I took Stuarts advice and applied a duplicate layer in Multiply mode. Lowered the opacity to taste. And this is the result!

Shooting Specs:
Nikon D800 | 500 f/4 +1.4
1/2000" | f/6.3 | ISO 2500

... and the before ...

Wow -- what a change!! I love it! The original capture is just a starting point now.

very cool pose, it looks a bit bright on my screen, needs some contrast adjustment too. great details and nice iridescence

you have done great improvement to the image in Post, fantastic work i would say.

The image does appear still a bit bright , however looking at the original the brightness is there all the way. May work with some contrast added

I love the pose and the colors on the bird so nicely done.

Very nice shot.
Great shooting angle, love the pose, and nice background.
Well done.

Nice low angle and well recovered from the original, do like the pose the bird has taken, the light has certainly picked up the sheen and colors on the feathers nicely, I agree the re post still looks a little bright on the back, but amazing difference compared to original

Now that is quite the clean up! Intriguing pose and sharp details. Brightness looks good to me, but if you do darken it further be careful with the shaded areas as they are already quite dark...

Magnificent image with lovely pose,beautiful colors,great PP work and very nice composition.

Regards,
Satish.