Razorbill

[Mark Jones]

Taken at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire in Jun 2012. Tough exposure with a black & white subject. Cropped about 30%, processed in CS6 and with Color Efex Pro. Also trying out a new watermark.

[jack williamson]

Looks like a nightmare exposure. The bird looks good but the belly gets almost lost in that bright BG. Well done considering the situation. I like that sharp brown eye.

[Satish Ranadive]

Beautiful image with nice composition.I like the pose,HA,colors and perch.
You could toned down the area next to rock and belly.

Regards,
Satish.

[gail bisson]

Hi Mark,
The bird looks great and I like the pop of green moss on the rocks.
Perfect HA.
I find the BG distracting and bright. I would try dodging it or if you have NIK Effex then try Tony Whiteheads' trick of selecting the BG and go to tonal contrast and slide the highlight slider down to - 75 or more,
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Very nice image, Mark. The HA is perfect and the exposure looks peretty good. It is a very hard bird to shoot as per my experience due to its pattern and coloration.

[Marina Scarr]

A very pleasing portrait you present here. Really like the inclusion of the environment and the angle of the bird. I do like your new watermark also!!

[Rhys Marsh]

Great bird with a very nice HA! I agree it's a bit of a tough BG, but looks well-exposed. For me it looks a bit soft, perhaps too much NR?

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think the exposure is very good indeed, perhaps the belly area is just a tad hot, the composition is good, I have some reservations over the processing. I am looking in particular at the lower neck and back area and also the junction of the dark and white feathers. I get the impression it is slightly soft or smudged, I would be curious to see the image processed with out additional filters and just processed with CS6. - did you presharpen?

[Mark Jones]

I think the exposure is very good indeed, perhaps the belly area is just a tad hot, the composition is good, I have some reservations over the processing. I am looking in particular at the lower neck and back area and also the junction of the dark and white feathers. I get the impression it is slightly soft or smudged, I would be curious to see the image processed with out additional filters and just processed with CS6. - did you presharpen?

My thanks to Jonathan and others who have taken the time to comment on my post. I don't as a rule presharpen but I did run Denoise on the image after cropping, before Color Efex Pro and then output sharpening from Nik Software. I'm still learning the processing side of things so if any BPN members have any tips, I'm all ears. Satish....I did try to darken the rocks somewhat in front of the bird but didn't like the look of it so decided to leave that area as it was. Gail.....I'll also give Tony's tip a go and let you know how it goes.

Thank you all.

[Marina Scarr]

Good point brought up by Jonathan. I thought about that too but remembered these birds looks pretty smooth. I went to look at your EXIF to see what ISO you had used and realized you hadn't posted any. Please try to remember to post your info and equipment when you post b/c this will help us when we make our comments.