First-timer at ETL - Rock Pigeon

[Jeff Levine]

This is a common Rock Pigeon I took over the summer while at the beach. I thought the pose was different enough to make it interesting:

Nikon D4
300 w/1.7 TC
F6.7 @1/1250
ISO 200

Basic adjustment in LR, then sharpening and contrast adjustment in Perfect Effects. No cropping.
I am new here and this is the first photo I've posted at BPN. I welcome any comments, critiques etc.
Thanks all
Jeff

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jeff - welcome to BPN. Great first post with an interesting pose and really nice detail. There seems to be a cyan/blue cast, more noticeable in the sand and shadow. You can reduce it through selective color or in hue/saturation. If it were mine I would open up the midtones just slightly (easily done through a curves adjustment or by moving the middle slider in levels to the left). Finally, I would back off on the sharpening slightly as it appears a little oversharpened and there is a halo around the pigeon. All easy fixes, let us know if you need more step by step directions. Looking forward to seeing more of your images.


TFS,
Rachel

[Ian Cassell]

Hey, Jeff. I love the unusual pose of this guy. I agree with Rachel about the color cast, but in general I think this a great first post. Detail is excellent.

[Jeff Levine]

I appreciate pointing out the color cast - I didn't pick up on that. Opening up the midtones helped as well. I didn't see the halos but reduced the sharpening and masked out the sky. Do you think it worked?
Thanks again, Jeff

[Diane Miller]

Yes, the original was very good, the repost even better. But I would open up midtones in LR, not in PS. Easy to do with the Shadows slider.

Good catch on the blue, Rachel. Could have been fixed with the Cyan-Magenta Tint slider in LR.

[Jeff Levine]

Diane, I went back to the original RAW image and reprocessed it in LR just like you suggested. I'm glad you liked it.
Jeff

[eddyswan]

Hi Jeff, great control of the exposure, love the elegant pose of the pigeon. I might reduce the brightness of the background and foreground to make the bird stand out

[Jeff Levine]

I reworked the BG. Do you think it helps the photo? Jeff

[Diane Miller]

It's a very subtle difference -- I had to layer the two to see it, but then I can see that the BG is very slightly darker but the bird was also further lightened. Either of the last two versions works well, I think. But the last one has now introduced a slight red-magenta cast.

[Jeff Levine]

Thanks Diane. I started back from the RAW file so that's probably why there are some other differences. I am leaning toward the brighter BG myself. Either way the input here is great and I wish I had found this forum sooner.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Jeff!
What a WAY COOL first pic post! (first was pretty blue and dark)....I think your final RP is best.... just a tiny hint of Magenta, but it somehow seems to subdue the BG and help the bird to pop a bit without doing much else. Totally fun image! Great detail!...What do you think about maybe a five-ten degree CCW rotation? Would it be possible to make that dark blob of sand a bit more neutral? OK... these are EXTREMELY tiny little nits... Your last post really makes the pigeon PRETTY!