This Rail's for Gail
Gail, you left us little choice but to return and try to catch this guy in early light. Up at 4:15 to drive to Sandy Hook, and finally enticed him into the open before the light got harsh. Or almost open; I'll have to settle for one foot. This is virtually full-width; I cropped a small amount off the right, and borrowed an equivalent slivver from a subsequent frame on the left to give him some running room; cropped to pano.
D7000, 500f4, ISO 800, 1/1000s @ f/7.1 manual, fill @ -1.7 EV.
Hi Bill , like the overall comp ,colors and contrast.Asking curious about the use of flash ?
The bird looks a little flat in tones , so a mid tone adjust will help to get more definition into the feathers , i think.
TFS Andreas
Definitely worth the early wakeup call. Love the light, habitat and low angle. Great sharpness too. A slight head turn towards us would have been icing on the proverbial cake.
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Like this image of him scampering in front of us. Love the head lowered, full neck stretch, foot up and tail feathers just about vertical. Great early morning light. Well worth the return trip.
Geoffrey
Andreas, your point is well taken. When we first arrived around 6:00, the light was still a little dim. By the time we persuaded this fellow to come out of the marsh a little after 7:00, it had brightened up and the flash was probably no longer needed. But I do find that a judicious use of fill can actually bring out the fine feather detail at times, and if you could see the full-sized 4950px-wide image, there's lots of fine detail there. But as you suggest, flash can also flatten the image if overused. In this repost I did just a slight mid-tone curves adjustment, which does help. After looking at the image again, I also removed a horizontal stick that had been bothering me, running behind the raised foot; and trimmed just a tad off the bottom to reduce the amount of OOF foreground and make it a true 9:16 pano (leaving enough room for the virtual foot). Thanks for the comment.Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann
Thank you, Doug. Yes, I agree. I wished for a bit of head turn. (Geoffrey may recall hearing me whisper "turn your head" as he ran past.) We were focused on a small opening in the marsh, and could see him lurking behind the cover of the reeds. Several times he appeared cautiously, then ran full-tilt across the opening; thus his concentration on reaching the protection of the other side.
appreciate your capture of a difficult bird, we have them at South San Francisco Bay, CA also. Saw my first last week, but low light, not sharp image was all I got (a great memory for me tho!) Nice to see this sharp image and the wonderful color detail.
Hi Bill , understand your point about the use of flash .Just have a different view of using this tool, as i hardly use it.To me this image does look like you would not have the need of flash usage . For me the natural light source is coming from your back ? Maybe i am wrong ?
But it is just the way you took this image , and that is ok .
I like what you did with the RP , i would go further , not saying i am right with my edit , specially i do not know how this rail look like in real life.
What i did was is as follows : Duplicate BG layer , add the green channel as layer mask , set blend mode to SOFT LIGHT, add selective color adjustment layer set neutrals + 10 points of black , clip the layer with the underlying layer , make a group of both layers ,add inverted layer mask to the group and paint the effect to just the bird .
Hope you understand my edits.PS : changes are subtle best to see side by side in PS
Regards Andreas
Spectacular image of running Rail raised foot, stretched neck and cocked tail. Beautiful colors,fine details and superb composition.
Love the frame, Bill Sir.
Regards,
Satish.
Nice one Bill, I know how difficult it is to capture these birds Well done, lovely image
Brilliant image Bill. Love the pose, great light and low angle. Well done!
Gorgeous light and killer details, Bill. Very nice pose with the raised foot and the stretched out neck. HA while not perfect works quite well for me. Nice job on the recomp in PP. I'm enjoying the overall environment here and that eye is just gorgeous.
Love the image.
I agree the OP needed some more punch. I did some quick tweaks and came up with this. I thought it would be OK to post since others have included RP with tweaks. A bit warmer since it was early AM... ;)
Another great shot of this handsome secretive Rail species, Bill.
Great light, pose and IQ.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Thanks Andreas and Enrique for taking the time to do some tweaks. Both reposts make for attractive images. But I must note: this is not a bird I get to see often, but when I do, my impression is usually one of a dull grey bird, almost matching the mudflats on which he often lurks. (This is especially true of the Eastern race.) Certainly the early morning light brought out his colors to advantage, and PS work can accentuate that. It's hard to know when we have gone too far; but if the objective is to represent accurately the coloration of the bird, we may be pushing the limit on this one. Still, the greater warmth and contrast certainly make him handsome. Thanks.
Bill you are right with your thoughts , as i said about my edit it is more influenced from the aesthetic site rather than the natural looking bird , simply because i never have seen this bird alive and in person, so you are the judge.
Regards Andreas
Wonderful one Bill, great exposure and the eye is superb
i love the way it is
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