Sony A900~Sony 500 F4 G~Sony 1.4x~ISO 400~F/7.1~1/1250 sec~manual exposure~hand-held~Texas City Dike~11-26-2012-CS6 /ACR/Topaz DeNoise
These birds, as well as others, use their tails to slow their momentum when landing on water, as shown here. Although not underexposed, noise was an issue with the dark tonalities, even at ISO 400. I first used Select/color range/shadows and thus selected the darkest colors and used NR on them (TopazDeNoise 5). Then a lighter dose of NR was applied to the entire image. I also added canvas on the left (via content aware fills) to give the bird more space to fly into.
Comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill
At first I didn't notice where you added canvas on the left, but now looking at it - it's pretty obvious, some of the ripples on the water don't match up. You're brave to attempt to add canvas on such a textured surface like this! Light looks a bit harsh here, although it allows you to have a fast enough shutter speed to catch the action. Caught him in the right moment! Composition is pleasing. Good work.
You just got to love the eyes of a Cormorant ,I guess these guys are considered a "Tail Dragger " lol . To me the under wing is a bit too light ? Great photo Tho !
Hi Will.....The canvas added to the left does not bother me at all. I think you should consider adding a bit to the top. You might also try balancing the shadows on body and wing a bit more by making those underwings just a bit darker...not too much!
I didn't really notice the added canvas either, but once mentioned, it is noticeable. Not a big deal though. I think more canvas at the top would work too. Agree with the others about darkening the shadows under the wings a bit. Nice capture.
I am commenting from my iPad so maybe not quite accurate but giving it a try anyway. I like the comp that you chose for this bird. Adding canvas was the right move although can't see the issues with the added canvas from this screen.
I like the action and pose on this one. The underwings aren't looking right to me. Seems as though they have been worked on.
Appreciate the comments and suggestions. Sorry guys, I made an error when I stated the image was not underexposed. I was working for this posting from a .PSD that had been converted from RAW the day the image was captured, and exposure had already been adjusted in ACR. I should have gone back to the RAW to explore why noise issues arose at ISO 400 when preparing for this BPN posting, but I did not.
Two things were revealed in the RAW image. The minor thing was there was plenty of space so that no canvas addition was needed, and most damaging, the image was underexposed 1.5 stops. Explains alot! regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 01-13-2013 at 03:50 PM.
Neotropic Cormorant
