Willet

Hi All,

I shot this willet in Texas City, Dike. Its excellent place for Shorebirds. With all the rains in Texas, I knew there will be water in shore which is exactly what I wanted to shoot (Willets, Sanderling etc in Water). I knew while they are in busy searching for food. I can crouch down low and get shots using my skimmer pod.

I love my D500 for its Autofocusing and Low light capability. I shot this just before it started raining again. It was very overcast.

Nikon D500, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.5
ISO 2000, f/6.3, 1/1600 sec on Skimmer Pod with Gimbal head.

Post Processing

Lightroom:-

• Minimal Crop
• Exposure +1.3
• Shadows +23
• Blacks -16
• Clarity + 20
• Vibrance + 25
• Saturation +23
• Noise Reduction
  
  • Luminance +21
  • Detail +66
  
  
• Sharpening
• White Balance --- Temp 6129

Photoshop Elements:-

• Nik Dfine2 Filter - Using Layer (Sometimes using masking)
• Brightness Layer
• Curves Layer

Above is my Typical Workflow in terms of post processing my Images. Most of times I don't apply Noise Reduction in Lightroom, but apply it using Nik Dfine in Elements.

In future I will replace elements with Photoshop cc (though I don't see much of a need for this) and Nik Dfine2 with Neat Image.

Any comments on my post processing will be greatly appreciated.

I am looking to find a specific workflow for bird Photographs and would love to automate these steps as much as I can.

Do let me know your comments on the image in general as well.



Thanks
Krishna

Don't even think about automation -- every image is too different. But you can sort of automate your thinking. Work generally from the top down in the Basic panel but as you change each you may need to go back and modify previous settings. If you shoot in M exposure you can make the tonal adjustments for one image and Sync it to others in the same light.

You adjustments here look good.

The "horizon" is noticeably crooked -- the ring of disturbed water around the feet. The crop tool in LR is wonderful in that you can use the O key to toggle several overlays, one of which is a tight grid. As you grab a corner to rotate the crop you can line up what should be level or vertical.

Hi Diane,

Thank you for the feedback. Yes I do shoot in Manual Mode and I sync my changes across multiple images taken in same light.

I forgot to adjust the horizon. It kind of slipped my thought, when I was post processing my image. Thanks for catching the same.

Thanks
Krishna

If not for the water, I would not notice the crooked horizon. I love the warm color in here. But I am somehow wishing for more rooms at the bottom; just a tad so you won't cut off the bird's right foot reflection.

I was in a hurry and see I didn't even comment on the image -- apologies! You have nice detail and I like the high key tonalities, and you have a good pose. Adhika had a good point about room at the bottom.

Murphy's 337th Corollary says we always notice some detail after we post an image.

And I will never be able to remember who is more or less sophisticated at processing, so no offense if i repeat the obvious. I try to comment to a general audience.

Hope to see more from you -- you have been working hard with good results!

Thank you for providing me great feedback which improved my work...