Purple Sandpiper

[Colin Gilyeat]

Nikon D7000, @500mm, f/9, 1/640, -1/3EV

PP in LR4 Minor curves adjustment, adjusted white and blacks. Crop is about 80% of the original. Took this one with the camera braced on my knees while sitting on the jetty at Barnegat Lighthouse,NJ. I'm not sure about the white under-belly, seems to be blown a little, but I wasn't able to adjust them to where I was comfortanle posting the resulting image. Any suggestions on dealing with whites would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Colin

[Dan Brown]

Nice image. The whites look ok to me. The image seems to need more contrast, maybe an S curve layer. The eye could use a bit of lightning also. BTW, this is a Ruddy Turnstone, not a Rock SP.

[Colin Gilyeat]

Dan,

Thanks for the comment, especially the correction on the ID. I have troubles sometimes IDing the various "peeps" at times. I 'll take a look at the contrast levels and the S curve.

Colin

[Randall Farhy]

Colin, nice capture-I like the different "layers" in the background,both in terms of color and texture. Whites on the underbelly don't seem to be blown, but they are lacking detail. I feel this is a result of the belly being in shade (high sun angle)and therefore a lack of contrast on feather edges gives it the smoothed over look. The high sun angle also creates problems with the bird blending into the rocky background. Not being there, I'm thinking a slightly lower camera angle would have let the bird stand out against the blue water. High sun is a real P.I.T.A.

Regards-R

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Colin,

Good comments above the opportunity here is subject placement in the frame and the image is a bit soft. I would consider removing a layer from the bottom especially the dark spot on the rock under the feet and notice the shadow triangle in the bottom left hand corner is distracting.

Nice field technique bracing the camera do you carry a tripod - that and faster shutter would have helped with detail. I might lighten the eye as well,... a well lit eye makes the image stronger. Regarding blown whites are you reading the histogram if it is clipped on the right side chances are some pixels are hot. With shifting light, I often find a bright area - take a test shot - check out the exposure settings and make changes as needed.

Please check the Educational and Tutorial Forum for some interesting threads on controlling and recovering blown whites. A fast and non technical solution is to clone over the blown areas - keep em coming.

[Colin Gilyeat]

Randall, thanks for the commetns and observatiosn about the lighting. I took this one, and some others in the early afternoon, so the sun was still fairly high in the sky. Since was already sitting on the jetty, my only other option was to lie down, but given the uneveness of th stoens and large spaces between themI wasn't real comfortable with doing that, although I have seen images from there taken while lieing down.

I'm going to rework the image, but I'm not expecting to get much more detail from the whites. I've got a couple of other simages from there that I am considering posting, depending on how the PP turns out.

Colin

[Colin Gilyeat]

Jeff, thanks for looking at the image. I was answering Randall while you were posting. I actually considered cropping a little more off the bottom originally, but I decided to keep it to save a little more of the jetty in the image. I did however miss the shadow in the lower left hand corner. One I get the image reworked, I'll re-crop and get it reposted.

Colin

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Colin,

Thanks, just curious do you have any reading material from Artie Morris:
The Art of Bird Photography
Digital Basics
These are mandatory reading IMO and I consult both monthly.

[Colin Gilyeat]

Jeff,

I have not gotten either one, yet, but I plan on getting both as soon as I can. I've really just started to get serious about my photography. I 've shot a lot of images over the last 2 or 3 years, but I've just begun to focus on improving them, both technically and artistically. Until I stated visiting this site, I wasn't aware of Artie or his books. I've noticed that Artie has a second version of the Art of Bird Photography that is only on disk. Would you recommend that versino of the first one?

Again, thanks everyone for your comments and encouragement.

Colin

[Colin Gilyeat]

Here's the reworked and re-cropped image. Dan, I lightened the eye a little, added some contrast, and redid the S curve. I took Jeff's advice on cropping and tooks a little more from the bottom.




Colin

[WIlliam Maroldo]

The image was taken in high contrast light, and regardless of what time of day it was, this type of lighting needs to be avoided. There is rarely an adequate post-processing solution, and increasing contrast can only make a bad situation worse. Lighting quality is the most fundamental aspect of any photography, avian included. I would suggest reading the following:http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...hotography.htm
regards ~Bill

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Colin,

Yes the CD is great and discusses all aspects of photography - keep posting you will continue to improve.

[Dan Brown]

Colin, the repost is much improved. Avoiding contrasty light is a good suggestion, but you have done well with what you had to work with in PP.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

I read the link that William provided some good info on natural lighting.

[Colin Gilyeat]

William, Thanks for the link, there is some very good ingormation there, and I completely understand and agree that high contrast light is not conducive to good images.

Because of my schedule the day I visited Barnegat, I wasn't able to get there early in the morning, not could I stay much later that I did. I really only had a couple of hours there, and plan on going back again so I can be there at first light. This particular image was very difficult for me to PP, partially because of my limited skills, but moreso because of the lighting.

Jeff, Thanks for the comments and encouragment. I don't expect to become an expert overnight, so any suggestions that you and others have are greatly appreciated. I expect it will take a long time to get to the point that I feel completely comfortable posting images for C&C. One of the reasons I post here is that I can get "great image" comments on other boards and know that while I have a decent image, it really isn't a "great image". I have learned a great deal, not just from the comments on my images, but also reading the comments on the images others post.

I do carry a tripod, but took the camera off the tripod do I could sit down and get a little lower respect to the bird. The center column on my tripod is a little long, and I would like to replace it with as shorter center column. Taht way I can get much lower with the tripod and not have to handhold like I do on this one.

Thanks,
Colin

Colin