Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

I was lucky enough to meet up with this beautiful spoonbill over the weekend. They are something of a rarity except there are a number of small colonies (about 26) in the Netherlands - total of about 1600 breeding pairs. This adult is in the non-breeding / summer plumage.

Ideally, I would have had the sun directly behind me, but this was the best opportunity that presented itself. On the one hand I would prefer even light across the complete bird, but on the other, I like the "modeling" that is provided by the shadows. Hopefully there will be a next time!

Technicals:
Canon EOS 1D MkIII, EF500 f/4L IS with 1.4 extension
1/800 sec at f/7.1, ISO 400
PP - White balance and Brightness in LR2; Leveling and re-building BG (corners), NR in CS4

Comments and suggestions warmly received!

Gerald

Hi Gerald . . . the light angle does not bother me. I kinda like it, as you say for the "modeling". I would only like to see a bit more brightness/sharpness in the eye.

i like the composition and the exposure looks good. the light angle was ALMOST there. i wished there were a little more of that nice light on the face. otherwise a really nice portrait.

Hi Gerald
it is a beautiful bird, good work getting it.
I think that you might have tried to under expose a bit ( -.3 or .7 EV) and then bring it back up in post. I think that would help to keep the modeling that you see on the shadows.
You still may be able to get more out of the highlights in post. I don't know PS well but you may be able to build a mask that lets you bring out the detail in the highlights. This would be a good picture to try it on, if you have ever considered it.
Thank you for sharing it,
Clive

Hi Gerald,
I like your composition...your self assessment on the lighting angle is on the money...I like the feel to this, you have a good head angle and sharp eye contact...your whites are within range, with some fine details...my only suggestion would be to lighten up the area around the eye just a tad, and selective sharpen it just a tiny bit more, not too much...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

Hi gerald...I agree that the eye needs to be lightened up but I would also try to work on the hotspot on the top front leg and see if you can bring out just a tad more detail in the forward wing. Nice portrait!

Hello Gerald!
I really like this shot, and given that you couldn't get a better angle on this bird, I don't know what more you could have done with the capture. I agree with lightening the head area and working on the eye.
One more thing - when I checked the histogram, it appears to me that you have clipped many pixels in the red channel, and fewer in the blue channel. If you work on it again, take a look at this and see if you agree; maybe you can recover them with your raw converter. Perhaps lowering these values will expose more detail in your highlights.

Agree with the fine advice given above - looking forward to your next capture.

Thanks Guys!

With the BPN server down this week and stuff - I haven't responded - sorry. Thanks for all the comments.

I had under exposed the image a bit to avoid blowing the whites and then brought them back up in LR2. So, from the comments from Clive and Ron, maybe I have taken them up just a little too much. I'll have to have another look at it. And I will sharpen the eye some more too!

Thanks for your guidance.

Gerald