Hi, I took this Grey Plover image under dull grey conditions. There was no way for me to get lower to the birds level and the surrounding mud flats gave a terrible glare off the overcast day. Ive post processed this image in DPP and PS CC and seperated the background from the bird and hence reduced the highlights and midtones via a levels layer. I then ran a seperate layer on the bird and sharpened. I'm just really interested to know what you more experienced members would do further to the image or do you consider in ok as is. I'm quite pleased with the outcome, but always wanting to improve. The only thing I see is to perhaps darken the whites on the bird a bit with the burn tool.
If available, a polarizing filter would have been your friend when this shot was taken. I rarely use one for bird photography, but there are times when it can be helpful.
I do like the foot up pose, wish he was angled a bit more towards us.
A nice shot. As you know, if it had been possible to get lower, the bird would be more separated from the BG, which competes with it a bit. I also shoot at many places where you just can't get down to the water level.
The cloudy light isn't a great asset here, but again not much you can do about it. I don't think you need to burn down the whites -- they are helping to bird to stand out from the BG. You have nice detail in the bird.
I think the bird is great, whites are fine as is. As Diane said a lower level would have worked better, but this coming from a girl that can't get lower than a wheel chair.
The BG is your enemy here and perhaps a crop change or burning of the BG would help. The only places it really competes with the bird are directly above the head and in the upper Right corner.
Grey Plover
