If at first you don't succeed... (RWBB Redux)

[Ed Vatza]

OK as luck would have it, I ended up back at the same place that made the RWBB images yesterday. Unfortunately it was as a front was coming through and the winds were really picking up. I tried to wait out lulls in the gusts.

Canon 30D and 400mm f/5.6L tripod-mounted.

1/640 sec at f/5.6; ISO 200; +1/3 EV

As those who know me from the Macro and Flora Forum can attest, I try to take your feedback and go back and see if I can make the necessary corrections. Sharper image here I think. No halos that I can see. More detail in the black. The reed not blown out (except for a teensy bit :)). I wish there was more red visible.

That's my take but I've been wrong before. What do you think?

[Dave Phillips]

ED, needs a bit of lift to the shadows I believe....color sat is weak when presented in Adobe RGB instead of sRGB

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice eye contact and BG. It looks a bit too contrasty as there are not many details in the blacks. You could try to fix the black point in the original.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Ed,
I do know you work on it! Next time out..........pop this sucker with a fill flash (know you have one)........this will greatly help bring out detail in blacks. Way to pick the clean BG too!

[Ed Vatza]

Dave, Axel, Roman,

Thanks for the feedback. As always I appreciate the comments and suggestions for improving the image. Dave and Axel, I tried to open up the shadows a bit. I'm not certain whether this looks better or not. I also saved as sRGB when I converted from TIFF to JPG. Roman, the nice thing is that these RWBB will be hanging around the reeds surrounding this pond all summer. So I'll get this right if it kills me. Well not if it kills me but you know what I mean! ;)

[Dave Phillips]

Here is where I drew out as much as possible in the shadows

you are making headway

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Dave,

I really appreciate your comments and efforts. Here's the deal. Forget about the photographic image for a minute. When I look at these Red-winged Blackbirds out there among the reeds along the pond, I see a very sleek black bird with the color in the wings. This particular bird showed more red on on side than the other (the side away from the camera). But the key thing in my mind is the sleekness of the bird. The bird just shines in the sunlight. The more we back off on the shadows in order to bring out more detail, the more that sleekness is lost. That is the battle that I am fighting with these RWBB images. The more I open up the shadows, the less the image matches my mental image of the bird as I saw it.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Ed, your repost is definitely an improvement and exposing them properly can be very difficult. It seems to work best very early or late in the day in order to keep the details in the shadows. A tiny bit of fill flash might help, too.