Bridal spoonbill

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Can't make up my mind what level of darks & brights I want to maintain with this one so all ideas are welcome. More highlights = nice backlighting but it can look overblown very easily. The sun & wind worked nicely together to create this one (together with my leopard crawling skills - I took quite a few shots of it without it even knowing that I was there... ).

General sharpness & tonal adjustments in LR. Crop to about 25% of original.

Nikon D600
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR + TC14E II @ 280mm
f/6.3 | 1/1000s | ISO 400 | Handheld

[David Kenny]

I like the effect of the backlighting on the head feathers. This seems like a tough one to balance out. The background is very bright and it looks like the subject was facing away from the sun. I find the highlights in the background to be distracting and pull my attention from the subject but it looks like they could be fairly easily cloned out.

-Dave

[Diane Miller]

This looks good to me. I think bright whites fit here. But I might have a look at trying to get just a little more detail in the large feathers near the bottom of the frame. It might need a local (masked) adjustment rather than a global one.

White birds are difficult -- good work! And good stealth skills.

[David Kenny]

Tobie,

I hope you don't mind but I had an idea for this shot in post processing. I used Photo shop for this edit. First I adjusted the levels to make the bird a little brighter (probably could have gone a little brighter). Then I duplicated the layer and darkened the exposure and painted the bird back in with the art history brush (I think that's what it is called). I then added some blur to the background. I flattened the image and cloned out some of those bright spots that I was talking about earlier. Finally I used the burn tool to tone down the bright spot on the body. I know it is not super clean I did it in about 5 minutes and my post skills are limited. Just an Idea.

-Dave

[Edward Arthur]

Super shot where hard work paid off. I agree with above comments and especially David's thoughts on the BG.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Thanks David & Diane!

David, you are most welcome - thanks for spending time on it! I've only done work from LR so far and was waiting to see if I get another reply or two before following up with more specialized work in PS (LM to reign in the brights, blurring of BG etc). I definately support the blurring of the BG. It's the TC that's messing up the 70-200's usual beautiful bouquet!

[Arthur Morris]

First, a question; is this a free and wild bird?

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

First, a question; is this a free and wild bird?

As free and wild as they come, Arthur.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Tobie,

I hope you don't mind but I had an idea for this shot in post processing. I used Photo shop for this edit. First I adjusted the levels to make the bird a little brighter (probably could have gone a little brighter). Then I duplicated the layer and darkened the exposure and painted the bird back in with the art history brush (I think that's what it is called). I then added some blur to the background. I flattened the image and cloned out some of those bright spots that I was talking about earlier. Finally I used the burn tool to tone down the bright spot on the body. I know it is not super clean I did it in about 5 minutes and my post skills are limited. Just an Idea.

-Dave

Thanks Dave - I love it - specially the BG!

[Arthur Morris]

As free and wild as they come, Arthur.

Thanks. Where?

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Thanks. Where?

http://www.northernfarm.co.za/birding.html.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. A lovely bird and a nice preening pose. David's repost handled the BKGR problems nicely.

Here is some general advice for working with back light:

1- try to position the bird directly between your position and the sun. This will avoid having the sun fall directly on various parts of the bird. In this case, with the sun from the back right rather than directly behind the bird, the sun is hitting the white feathers on the side of the bird's head just above the bird's left eye.

2-When working with birds and strong backlight seek out very dark or black BKGRs as the results are much more dramatic than with middle-toned BKGRs. You can also go for the high eky looks using the sky as BKGR if possible. Scroll down to the 3rd image here for a good example.

3-Try to avoid most blinkies in the original capture. On occasion, a few blinkies in the rim light can be OK while keeping the subject from being grossly under-exposed.

4-As you usually need to under-expose to avoid blinkies in these situations, using a lot of flash to light the shaded side of the bird can yield dramatic results. You can learn about using flash in backlit situations here.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Thanks for the nice advice, Arthur. Unfortunately demographics made points 1, 2 & 4 impossible in this event. Sometimes we can just wish...