Liftoff!

Attachment 144735

The Saddle-Billed Stork was on my must-have list from the Africa trip
Taken at Savuti Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Canon 6D
Zeiss 80-200mm @200mm
f/8 ISO 1250 1/3200 (attempt to freeze the action)
HH and manual focus

Basic prep in LR was highlights/shadows/whites/blacks and light crop
I experimented with several pp approaches in PS CC. This one achieved with luminosity masks and resize/sharpening using TK Panel.

C&C welcome, as always. Still learning. :)

One thing I've learned here is that I'm very color-cast-challenged. So any specific help in this direction is most appreciated!

Nice action, sharp, and how you can do this with manual focus is beyond me! It feels a little tight on the left, if you have any more of the image there. But no big deal.

Colors look great to me -- there's a little blue in the wing and shadow on the body but that's an optional fix, for me, and not what I'd call a color cast. It's a result I like, but others may differ. Our eyes correct blues in the shadows while the camera doesn't. Warming those tones to neutral will give everything else what I would call a color cast. In cases like this I'll usually desaturate blues and then mask that adjustment layer) so any sky is excluded.

Good work -- will look forward to seeing more!

Beautiful shot Ed! Diane has said it all and I agree with her - not something I'd attempt with MF! Personally I feel the sharpening has gone too far but it might be just me.

Thank you, Diane and Tobie!

Unfortunately, there's no where to go on the left side since I was panning a bit too aggressively for this slow-moving bird. I might try adding canvas if I can figure out how to do it here, I agree it needs it. (I'll re-read Diane's article.)

It's worth a try just for the learning -- content-aware fill could work a small miracle here.

I didn't notice it before but there is a halo, most noticeable along the top of the neck -- from sharpening maybe?