Real or Phony?

[Arthur Morris]

Can the eagle-eyed folks here tell if there was any serious Photoshop work done to this image? If yes, what is your proof. Or, do you think that it is pretty much right out of the 1D X?

Sanderling flapping after bath. Created on Sanibel with the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon 2x EF Extender III (Teleconverter), and the Canon EOS-1D X Digital SLR camera. ISO 800. Evaluative metering -1/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/10 in Manual Mode. Lens foot buried in the sand. Central sensor (by necessity) Expand/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial.

Clue: the folks here are totally off base.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Bill Dix]

I might have guessed that you added canvas and stretched the bottom. But since you suggest that that answer is "off base", and had an ultra-low POV, I'm guessing that it's SOC. In any event, it looks good to me. If you did major PP work, congrats on doing it well. Love the light and the wing extension.

[nzmacro]

Artie, anything is possible now days with what we have and use, layers, flood effects, cloning, etc. Its all so hard to tell. Heck even the wing positions we can change now days if needed or even add to them with canvas. I've taken one wing from a burst and added it to another shot in the same burst. About the only thing here I would take a guess on is the reflection mate. Maybe covering up distractions in the water as well. The background, well who knows :). It's just that reflection that doesn't look right to me, but you never know.

Whatever, its a darn fine shot !!

All the best.

Danny.

[PhilCook]

Good post Arthur...hmmmmm.....it has to be something to do with the reflection I think...it just don't look right ? Whatever it works well ...stunning really

[Roy Priest]

I agree with the reflection. Looks like you selected a one pixel row and then stretched it to add canvas.

[dankearl]

The reflection is off, other than that, a pleasing image with nice light and a nice angle.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Lovely warm light, wing, sharp eye and splash. I don´t know if you did major surgery here but if you did it looks pretty good, I am not eagle-eyed though!

[Satish Ranadive]

Arthur Sir:
I am still learning from renowned Guru's like you.I think,Image should look like this.



Regards,
Satish.

[nzmacro]

If he had posted that I wouldn't be saying theres something worng with the reflection, I would be screaming fake mirrored reflection .

[Dave Mills]

Just a hunch that there is something wrong with the reflection. I'm wondering would the wings have given off some sort of reflection?

[Shawn Zierman]

Something is looking off about the bird's left wing. Looks like a turnstone's wing in breeding plumage.....
What is the date that the image was made?

[Satish Ranadive]

Shawn:
You are right..it's left wing of different bird,I can see the two tails now..as well as there is different reflection also.

Satish.

[Arthur Morris]

Arthur Sir: I am still learning from renowned Guru's like you.I think,Image should look like this. Regards, Satish.

Satish-bhai. That is quite a remarkable repost. I love it.

Note to all: as I just mentioned in a comment on my blog, no canvas was added, and the only thing done below the bird was a crop. The reflection is as rendered right out of the camera. More soon.

[Shawn Zierman]

Why do I have this feeling that when "more soon" comes, it will be with a recommendation to pick
up your excellent book "Shorebirds: Beautiful Beachcombers".... :) Of course, I reserve the right to
be completely wrong.... :)

[Arthur Morris]

Completely wrong but thanks for the plug. Here is the link: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=18. Bad on me for not including it originally. The reality is that I would not enjoy working as a greeter in Walmart....

[Shawn Zierman]

Nice! Glad I reserved the right to be wrong ahead of time... :)

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

There a tiny dark spot above the bird's beak so my guess would be if there any Photoshop done you would already clone that out, I guess this is straight out of the camera.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Artie - to me the angle of the left wing looks off, almost like it would have to be broken to bend in that direction so I'm wondering if there was some clean-up there or perhaps even part of another image.

TFS,
Rachel

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I'm thinking it's the wing as well. It does look like a Ruddy's wing. Pretty good whatever it is.

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, two things at play here: imaginations run wild and the" let's jump on the bandwagon" mindset. The image was created from two images of the same bird, a bathing Sanderling, created in the same one-one-hundredth of a second. I brought the head and the far wing from one image into the other image. I see no dark spot above the bill.

You can see the two frames from which this image was created here.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Well done You created the the best with the best of both. Now why couldn't the birdie have just done it for you LOL I too see the teeny weeny dark spot above the bill.