This image was shot at The Regent's Park, London during sunrise (7am-ish). I chose to photograph this bird back-lit because having the sun behind my back meant having to cross over to the other side of the lake and risk having a busy background with a lot of people.
Going prone wasn't an option at this spot so I had to place my camera on the ground and rely on Nikon's excellent, fast and reliable Live View AF. Coming to the image, I chose to leave most of the specular highlights and water droplets in. I evened out the exposure of the scene by darkening the FG and raising the shadows in the BG. I then applied Nik Detail Extractor to the bird at a low setting and tried to recover some detail in the (sadly) blown out highlights on the chest and head.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the composition and processing. I'm fairly inexperienced when it comes to photographing back-lit subjects so I'd appreciate any tips that you might have to share :bg3:
07-30-2019, 12:33 PM
Moe Richard
Exquisite point of view and light. I think I would consider cloning away some of the specular artifacts but not all.
07-30-2019, 01:24 PM
Alex Becker
Hi Aditya, I really like this. I love these type of highlights. I didn't notice the blown HLs until I read your caption. I generally expect some amount of clipping with these images so it doesn't bother me too much. A pano crop here taking some off the bottom could be nice. TFS
07-30-2019, 02:21 PM
dankearl
I like the back lighting since you were able to raise the shadows on the bird.
Blown highlights are minimal. The specular highlights are personal preference i think, I would prefer less...
07-30-2019, 03:36 PM
Dorian Anderson
This is equally creative and lovely. The brown tones are beautiful and the bird is giving you a greta curious look. Could care less about so-called 'blown' highlights. They don't affect mood/feel/effectiveness of shot. They add a nery nice kiss of light to the dark. I second the idea for a more pano crop if you have the canvass.
07-30-2019, 04:23 PM
John Mack
Very nice. Like the mood this one conveys. I wouldn't worry about the highlights on this one.
07-30-2019, 05:10 PM
gail bisson
I like this and your PP is excellent,
Gail
07-31-2019, 02:17 AM
Aditya Sridhar
Thanks all for the feedback! I'll give the pano crop a shot
