Egret 2014

Taken on an overcast day, this is one of those images that I had trouble sending to the trash bin. The original is rather blah with flat light and poor color, but since the bird was in focus I saved it for later use.

Process: Topaz adjust for mild color boost, over sharpened. > DAP Joaquin, custom palette for blues and color pop, tweaks to settings. Retouch to bring back some details on the bird, outlined with dark Oil (custom settings)> Topaz Clarity for mild contrast tweaks> LR5 for final crop and output. Approx. 70% of the original frame intact.


C&C always welcomed and appreciated

Randll, I like the combination of filters that you used and I love what must have been bokeh in the background. I'd be tempted to crop just a little off the bottom to just below your sig and would probably clean up a few of the wispy lines around the beak. Lovely image:S3:

Looks like he's on a mission. Nice processing. I would burn a gradient from the bottom rather than crop. The dark stuff above the bird needs some balance.

Thanks Cheryl and Diane, I gave both idea's a go-couldn't get a gradient effect that I liked but the crop idea works as does cleaning the lumpiness around the beak.

You are really demonstrating the utility of DAP. I had a trial version a while back, but couldn't achieve what I wanted out of it. You sure are...

I like the colors and the effects here. I'd wish that the bird were not angling away from us and that the wings were in the full downstroke position.

Thanks Artie, agreed, bird position not optimal. The 2nd to next frame shows an angle toward the camera, bill open and blown whites on the tops of the wing. Apparently the sun started to burn through as the sequence was being shot.

YAW Randall. Been there done that on the sun peeking out.

One of the important lessons that I have been dancing around here recently but have mentioned here before is that all of the design and technical principles that make a natural history image a good or a great image should be present in the base images that are used to create post-capture out of the box creations. It is rare but not impossible to turn a poor image into a great image via out of the box processing. If you get my drift.

I like what you're doing with DAP, and I'm glad you decided to keep the shot. Given that the gradient Diane suggested didn't work for you, here's a different suggestion for achieving more balance. Do a Select>Color Range to choose some of the darker tones at the top, and -- with it still selected -- apply a Curves layer with it lightened. (When I tried it, the legs and dark parts of the eye were selected, too, but I just painted them out of the mask.)