Woodchat Shrike

[Richard Unsworth]

A real killer, likes to impale prey. After this shot itcaught a large grasshopper and smashed it up on the trunk!

Very white bird, really a hard one to get right, harsh late afternnoon llight, but I like the pic; I tried hard to track this bird down.
Usually seen from a distance, washed pleased to get relatively close for this one, about 65 of original.

S&H but kept it as white as possible as they are stunningly white

7D 100-400 1/2000 F8 iso 800 HH ME cleaned some twigs from bg

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very striking bird, I understand why you wanted him in your viewfinder! Good pose and eye contact. Due to the crop some fine details has been lost . Branch is nice but a bit large for this bird. Even though the shooting angle is steep, is not so apparent since the bird is looking at you.

[gail bisson]

Hi Richard,
I think you could do something really cool with this using various filters for OOTB.
I like the pose the shrike gave you and the eye looks good.
The whites are blown in some areas and the blacks have a lot of noise suggesting you lifted the blacks.
I would also rework the BG in the bottom of the frame as I see some cloning artifacts,
gail

[Richard Unsworth]

Thanks Gail I will try some different processing; Its a hard one to get right thats for sure.

In the raw the whites were not blown I tried to lighten too much as yhe head area was dark
Processing with ACR seems to better than DPP withthus one but its going to need some real careful work to get it.

The repost shows the iamage after ACR and dodging head area. Chime in if you think you can advise; I think this is a good one to play with

[jack williamson]

The exposure and detail are better in the repost but now the image is noisy. Cool looking bird.

Jack

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Rich,

I liked your Woodchat Shrike and thought my PS skills needed a bit of refreshing - haven't had time over the summer!

So here is my take on your image. I don't think that the white on the breast needs to be so white - the Collins Bird Guide describes it as "buff white".

After cleaning up the background, I used a multiply layer and a mask to reduce the difference in brightness where the light is stronger - probably could have done some dodging, but there you are. Did some tweaking in curves to balance the shadows and highlights a bit. Separated the background and added some selective colour to deepen the sky a little. Quick mask to brighten the eye slightly. Did some NR with Neat image and then sharpened once. I also added a subtle vignette, just for the **** of it.

Does it work for you?

Regards,

Gerald

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Gerald

Works for me and thanks for having a go. This was a very hard bird to get close to, they are fairly common, so birdwatchers can be happy, photographers haha
really appreciate your effort
I just got my hands on Photoshop CC -- amazing new tools, I am going to post another from this sequence processed with cc

[Richard Unsworth]

Going to post a different frame here
Same specs but processed in ACR and CC

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Richard,

I prefer the pose of the original image - I like the posture as well as the fact it shows the characteristic brown patch on the back of the head. This crop is a bit tight, too, in my opinion.

Looks like you are getting lots of vestiges and haloes in your processing. How are you masking and selecting stuff for processing? Also, you seem to have lost quite a lot of feather detail on the body - looks like too much NR.

Haven't looked at CC yet - not sure I like the subscription model.

Best wishes,

Gerald

[Richard Unsworth]

OK

I usually use layer masks but didnt here. Really just a first try at CC. I am lucky my son is a designer and has an account with Adobe anyway :-)
True I have been struggling with change of computer too, been using a low grade Lap but now got my power one back!

Appreciate your comments and assistaqnce

[Richard Unsworth]

Save for web settings ie when I converted to jpeg were all wrong, working on it...

[Ivan Ellison]

Richard, the orig post doesn't work for me- looks too bright and washed out on my screen. I do prefer your repost and do not mind too much the branches in the bg- adds to the habitat feel that you normally get them in. Agree that they are not easy birds to get right and do them justice. Good luck with your new processing programme and computer.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Ivan

Yep, the old WS are not easy to play with and actually very uncommon at this locale. There are many Southern Grey Shrikes in winter, but they too have disappeared in the blaze.
CC is a cool bit of software but its easy to over process, as you know.