Clown on a Cliff

[nick clayton]

Puffin
Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire, UK 19/03/11

Canon 7D
Sigma 500mm f4.5
1/500 @ f5
0 EV
Aperture priority
ISO 800
Pattern

Curves
Saturation
Selective Color
Nik Software color Efex Pro 4 - Tonal Contrast & Detail Extractor - subject only
Photoshop USM - subject only

[Nick Palmieri]

Nice job on the puffin. I think I would tone down some the bright rocks surrounding the bird.

[Marina Scarr]

I like how the bird is looking up at you with its head slightly cocked. It's interesting to see it in its habitat. Agree burning the bright rocks would make your subject pop a little more. I am also seeing a slight blue cast on your image and would do a color balance layer lowering blues/adding a little yellow to solve the cast issue.

[Doug Brown]

A lot to like here. How about a version that corrects the color cast and also tones down the rocks a bit?

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the point-of-view you got here, great sense of habitat these guys hang out on. I like what Doug has done.

[nick clayton]

Thanks Doug I like what you have done, it makes the bird stand out better. I would be interested in knowing what you have done to achieve this. Also thanks to Nick, Marina and Daniel for your constructive comments.

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Nick: I explained above on how to correct the cast. As far as darkening the rocks, Doug probably used the burn tool.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks Doug I like what you have done, it makes the bird stand out better. I would be interested in knowing what you have done to achieve this. Also thanks to Nick, Marina and Daniel for your constructive comments.

Hi Nick. I created a Color Balance adjustment layer and adjusted the Yellow/Blue slider to -13. Above that I created a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer that masked out the bird. I set the brightness to -45 and the contrast to -28.

[nick clayton]

Thanks Marina, sorry I wasn't sure whether that was how Doug had done it, presumably it was. The original image had a far greater blue cast to it before I carried out a white point correction but appears this was not enough. One of the great things about this site is the friendly advise from experienced eyes that notices things such as a slight colour cast and when it is pointed out hopefully a lesson is learnt.

[nick clayton]

Hi Nick. I created a Color Balance adjustment layer and adjusted the Yellow/Blue slider to -13. Above that I created a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer that masked out the bird. I set the brightness to -45 and the contrast to -28.

Thanks for the detailed explanation Doug, it's very much appreciated.