Rosetta Spoonbill

[Clyde Hopper]

Nikon D90 ,Lens Sigma 150-500 ,Exposure:1/300 sec ,f/6.3 ,ISO 400 ,Aperture Priority ,Matrix Metering.





Small crop to level ,Adjustments in ACR and Bumped the blacks and neutrals ,plus luminosity multiply layer in CS6.
Photographed at Fort De Soto ,Fla 7.18.2014

[Carolyn Arnesen]

I like your subject here, Clyde, a bird I've never seen but hope to some day. You were fortunate to get so close. The head and eye are sharp but the body and end of the bill appear soft to me, perhaps from motion blur. The blue seems a bit saturated, and I find it draws attention away from the Spoonbill. TFS this beautiful bird.

[Diane Miller]

Yes, very nice pose! I've not gotten close to one, or one in the clear.

Carolyn has a good idea about the blues. You might try lightening them in the HSL section of ACR -- that will also reduce saturation somewhat. It would also be worth seeing if you can get the added darkening or contrast in ACR instead of using the multiply layer in PS. ACR has amazing flexibility in the Basic section and is worth learning to get everything you can out of it.

[Clyde Hopper]

Thanks Carolyn and Dianne , I will go back and do as mentioned .


Ok I pulled the blue down in(-47) ACR as well as the Aqua (-31) and the greens looked too strong at that point so lowered them as well (-17)
Then I made every adjustment I could come up with to get the same effect as the multiply layer and failed .So I added a small amount in the yellows ,moved to CS6 ,and added the multiply layer ,and posted the results . Thanks for the help .

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Clyde,

Greetings. I may be in the minority but I'm okay with the saturation of the OP (viewed on Firefox, Internet Explorer blasts the color a too much and it does look somewhat radioactive with IE). The repost did pick up some detail in the neck, which confirms what I was thinking that the neck in the OP is a bit too hot. This is a good image to work a half a dozen times to settle on a rendering that balances saturation and detail. You have a well composed shot of a compelling subject.

I think the light might have supported a higher shutter speed maybe -0.5 EV for about 1/500. Not sure of your focal length but higher ss helps with the fine feather detail.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

The RP did pull out a little more detail in the bright tones of the neck, but at the expense of dulling down the entire image. With ACR, it is possible to get better detail in the whites without compromising the rest of the image -- see the sticky here for some ideas, although every image is different, The I'd try the HSL section for toning down the water -- I do prefer it more in the second image.

Looking at them together, I now see that the OP is too saturated. The Saturation slider is the last thing to use -- getting the tonal range correct will increase saturation by itself. This image is a good learning exercise for starting over in ACR and doing some experimenting. It is a very nice image worth getting it perfect!

[Clyde Hopper]

Thanks Michael and Diane . Michael ,fL was 500mm . My thoughts (After the fact ), I wished I had stopped the lens down to f/7 or 8 . ?? There was plenty of light ,almost too much (10:00 AM and not a cloud in sight ) I was lying on the beach with the camera propped on a backpack .Not as good as a tripod ,but should have been stable .? All suggestions are greatly appreciated ,Thanks for the help .



Dianne , I will be working this set of photos repeatedly till I get the most I can from them . I have read everything you have posted (Sticky ) and will re-read them again .

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Clyde,

Regarding stopping down. I don't see dof as an issue here, but ss at about 1/1000 would have helped with the fine feather detail. More camera stability won't help with subject movement. Check out the ss on Avian shots.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Clyde Hopper]

Clyde,

Regarding stopping down. I don't see dof as an issue here, but ss at about 1/1000 would have helped with the fine feather detail. More camera stability won't help with subject movement. Check out the ss on Avian shots.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Michael , I Am so very sorry ,But I failed to type the specs properly . The ss was 3000 not 300 . I promise in the future to double check what I post . I'm embarrassed...