Black Grouse - Ouch

Nikon D800, ISO 1600, 500 mm @f/5.6, 1/500

The bird on the left has just attacked and is grabbing a bunch of feathers and pulling them out from the breast of his opponent. In the next few images he has them in his bill whereas the bird on the right has big bald, blody and probably sore spot on his breast. Trying to get mated is not for the meek (at least not if your a black grouse male :w3).

The white balance is still an issue - I think this is a fair representation of what it looked like. The sun is just coming up over the horizon and it snowed during the night. Temperature here was probably around freezing point.

Comments would be appreciated.

Another version with a color balance adjustment layer dragging the blue towards the yellow a bit.

Mating habits are so varied and interesting. Great to catch the action!

Either WB works for me, with the OP giving a little more of a feel of the cold. I wonder if there's a little more detail to be found in the darks?

Nice action shot, Svante! I'm so glad I don't have to get into a fight to convince my mate to be nice to me! :w3

I actually love the colors in the OP - it's just a little softer and more appealing. I might have gone for a square crop here but that's not serious and a personal choice.

Super timing, a tough call for me which is best, I like both versions, I think I prefer the plumage in the secong.

I tried to print a couple of these images and I don't like the results much.

The snow in shadow which looks OK on screen I think looks awful when printed. I really dislike the resulting blueish gray white result.

Any tips on reasonable work-around ?!?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Svante Larsson

I tried to print a couple of these images and I don't like the results much.

The snow in shadow which looks OK on screen I think looks awful when printed. I really dislike the resulting blueish gray white result.

Any tips on reasonable work-around ?!?

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Have you tried using levels and applying the black and or white dropper?

You could try reducing the blues with a hue-sat adjustment layer (not an adjustment on a pixel layer copy) on your master file. An adjustment layer is editable as you explore the best settings for printing. If it changes the birds too much, just mask it out over them. Then turn the layer on for printing and off for web export. (You could name the layer something like print correction.)

Nice exposure on the reds. I would do some NR on the wings of the bird on the right.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Svante Larsson

I tried to print a couple of these images and I don't like the results much.

The snow in shadow which looks OK on screen I think looks awful when printed. I really dislike the resulting blueish gray white result.

Any tips on reasonable work-around ?!?

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How are you printing? The problem may be with the print not being accurate. There are a lot of pitfalls in printing, but if done right it will accurately reflect the screen, assuming that is a good representation of the actual file.

Hi Diane,

Thanks but I think my chain from screen to printer is calibrated so no problem there. I am printing on an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 using Qimage (which I highly recommend - nowadays I do not do any print sharpening since I think Qimage handles the output sharpening excellently by itself).

I think the real problem with the snow in shadow is that on a monitor you get a completely different view ("backlit" (?)) feeling than on paper (it might differ depending on paper - I printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta and I didn't experiment with other paper). In the end I did what you suggested above with a hue-sat adjustment layer.

/Svante

Sounds like you are doing it the right way, with a great printer, and that's a wonderful paper. Monitors do give a different look than paper -- I think over the years I have just calibrated my brain to the differences. Even the most experienced printers with dialed-in systems will do test prints and tweak the file as needed. John Paul Caponigro emphasizes the need to do that.

That is truly a special capture with great action/behavior!!!

Pow, right in the kisser!