Taken the other morning,these birds are allways in the shade on my river,cannon500mm IS L,TRIPOD,7D,F4,1/160S,ISO500,EXPCOMP1+,cropped,sharpened,touch of levels.thanks for looking,comments good or bad.thanks.
I love the perch in the water, wake around it, nice angle of bird in frame. For personal taste, I would crop a bit from the top, and perhaps a sliver from left.
I appreciate the challenging shade conditions. I wish there was a bit more separation of the dark brown bird from the BG. Is fill flash an option there?
I did a quick tweak along the lines I mentioned. Small crop, and lightened the bird just a bit, as well as the rock. You almost have to look at them side by side, but I think it helps the bird separate a bit better, without appearing fake.
Cheers
Randy
Last edited by Randy Stout; 12-15-2012 at 10:12 AM.
This is really a super image, Chris. It's unique and thought provoking. I am ok with either crop but prefer the slightly lighter version. The perch is awesome. Love the angle, the fact that you can see the feet and the small wave of water on the perch. I find the dark on dark works very well in this instance.
Very nice image with great foreground swirls in the water around the rock
I find both the initial and the repost to be a little dark for my taste.
If it were mine, I'd do a little more work to bring out the great detail and color that are in this image.
Using a pair of light color dodge layers with sliders moved around and a little light masking, how about this as an example of what you could do (your results will be better working on the full size version before posting)
Cool setting, I like Randy's repost, Don went a bit too bright for me.
Maybe just a tad more brightening in the OP with a bit of crop as Randy suggested.
A very attractive bird!
Low angle is great, yes better without the dark backdrop if it were possible, Liking a lot the water movement around the rock and I like the slight lightning of the back feathers by Randy, but I find the head region too washed out looking/hazy in both original and repost
I did a basic edit on the original with more light to back but a tweak with selective contrast adjustment to just the head region
Nice looking bird, I don't think we get anything like that over here
A lovely composition of this great looking bird Chris. I like Randy's crop that has strengthened the composition, Don's lighter BG and Phil's contrast to the head really makes this dipper pop. Nice one!
Thankyou for looking and comments,like yourpost Randy,Don thanks for comments but its too bright for me,and the BG as posterized in your post on my screen,and Phil your post as posterized in the BG,the BG is a dark earth,the dipper spends 99% of its life on the river,diving under water to feed on insects.thanks again.
Beautiful plump little dipper, so much prettier than the North American dipper imo.
I think what I enjoy most about the image is the clear connection between
bird and habitat that comes through. Even how the dipper is oriented to the flow of the river, looking
upstream, considering it's next move I suppose. One consideration at the time of capture would have been
to have just a bit more room behind the rock...just "feels" a little tight there.
Chris you have a lovely shot there, I fully recognise the lighting conditions, I remember submitting similar images, whilst I agree entirely in retaining the natural look I think if you go to the raw file again you could improve the bird a little bit. Sometimes I launch two raw images, one with more exposure and one with less, then layer them and make a mask, then brush away the dark or the light areas accordingly.
Frankly, I prefer the original version. I really like the white bib popping out against the dark BG. Love the rock and the softly waving water.
I believe this is one of the few birds in which the European counterpart is prettier than the American...
european dipper
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