LOOKING DOWN AT A LOOKING DOWN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE - THEME

[gary ellwein]

The sharp tailed grouse image was captured this past Sunday, high on a ridge, on the Utah - Idaho border. We were on the lek before dawn and could hear the birds long before seeing them. They are a noisy lot when hormone levels high. There were 30-35 birds on the lek. The males will face off nose to nose staring each other down. Then one or both will begin a spectacular dance. The dancing posture includes outstretched neck, extended fluttering wings, up raised shaking tail and stopping feet. One can hear the drumming feet from quite a distance. They also expose the gorgeous purple patch of neck feathers. Compared to the greater sage grouse, there is much less fighting.

The images were taken from my truck which functioned as a blind. I would have preferred a lower angle of view; however, getting out of the vehicle ran the risk of flushing all the birds. Had I been out of the truck, I would not have captured the posted image. This love sick fellow danced right up to me and disappeared under the vehicle.

The image was captured in deep shade and had a strong blue cast. I was wide open at f4 with my 200-400mm. accounting for the shallow depth of field. I was surprised to get the detail at the shutter speed of 1/400 on a moving subject.


Post processing included a lot of work on a dark bg which included numerous bright weed stems. Some heavy duty blurring and selective painting with a low opacity brush improved the situation. The eye was selectively lightened and the beak cleaned up. I applied a bit of poster edge. I am not sure about the frame.

If one looks closely, my truck is reflected in his eye.

[Dennis Bishop]

The colors work very nicely, and the grouse is an eye-stopper for sure. I can only imagine what it must've been like to have been there and experienced what was happening. Sounds like you did a lot of work to optimize the image, but you came up with a winner.

Because you said you weren't sure about the frame, I pulled the image into Photoshop and looked at it with and without. There's no question in my mind that the frame is a good thing. When the eyes follow the diagonal of the grouse, the frame is an effective stopper. With the variability of the dark tones, it also very nicely complements the markings of the bird. I substituted a very light version of the purple for the white in the frame. Then, I tried a light gray, instead. I might be inclined to use one of those are something else instead of the white in the frame to reduce the contrast a bit so it attracts less attention.

[Diane Miller]

Stunning! Dennis has an idea worth pursuing about the frame but I never would have thought of it on my own. Great sharpness and cool to see your truck. The BG works very well, I think.

The things animals will do for a mate...

[Walker Noe]

Wow, great looking bird. Nice details.

TFS
Walker

[Anita Bower]

I like everything about this image. Wow! Gorgeous colors and details. Love the position of the head in the frame, and I like the frame. Good work on making the bg smooth and unobtrusive. That sharp eye is perfect and is the focus of attention, then the colors. Well done!
Thanks for describing your experience. Sounds like it was special.

[Paul Lagasi]

Gary, I have never seen this species in breeding season, would love to know where you saw this. As above stunning capture. Good suggestion above, I always like to use a little of the color from an image for the frame.

Dis you go with a guide? or was this a private ranch?

[Kerry Perkins]

Great job on this interesting bird, it really looks super. I love reflections in birds' eyes, very cool indeed.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

What a beautiful bird, I love it coming in from the corner and the colours are fantastic. Was that the Nikon or Canon 200-200? You did a terrific job with the BG.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Gary,

Greetings. Congrats on a spectacular shot! The diagonal composition and the eye detail make it for me. If it were mine I would work on the color a bit more. I've not seen one of these so I don't have an idea of the actual feather color but the purple especially up in the upper left corner seems unusual to me. I'd be inclined toward warming a fair amount (++ yellow and + green)... to my taste. In any event, good show!

Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[gary ellwein]

Dennis, I would like to experiment with a colored frame. What is the beast way to proceed. My limited photoshop skills come to light.

Paul, we were west of I-15 near the small town of Portage, Utah. I was with a friend and his son. They are both well known in the Utah birding community. I am not certain if we were on private or public land.

Jackie, the lens and camera are Nikon. ( I had to get a waiver from Artie to participate in this forum ). The camera is the relatively new D810.

Michael, the grouse was in the deep shade of the truck. I warmed the image up until the colors looked right to my eye. The purple neck feathers are properly colored.

Thanks to all for the interest and suggestions.

[Dennis Bishop]

Dennis, I would like to experiment with a colored frame. What is the beast way to proceed. My limited photoshop skills come to light. . . .

There's almost always more than one way. Here's one that gives a simple border with an easily-varied width and color.

You're probably going to want to apply the frame/border to the top layer. That's not always true, but it's a good way to start out. If I'm doing that, I'll want that layer to reflect everything that's been done to the image. You could flatten the image, but my preference -- so I can come back and rework old images after learning new techniques -- is to stamp all the layers. In the PC world, just make the top layer active and hold <Shift><Ctrl><Alt><E> to produce a new layer that combines everything on the layers that had the eye turned when you held down all those keys.

Then, double-click to the right of the thumbnail for the layer but not on the layer name. That'll bring up the Layer Style window. In the left column are a bunch of check boxes and style names. Click anywhere except the checkbox in the one that says Stroke. Make sure that Inside is selected for Position. The selected Fill Type should be Color. Below that is the word Color and a rectangle that's probably filled with black. When you click in that rectangle, a new window will appear. Although you could select the border color from that, I move the cursor to the image and choose a color from it. Once you do that, it's easy to finesse it in the window if you want. Then, click OK. The rest of the sliders in the Layer Style window are straightforward. You can vary the width with the Size slider and lighten the color with the Opacity slider. Blend modes can make a difference, too. If you decide you don't like what the chosen color is doing, just click on that colored rectangle and modify the color. When you're all done, click OK.

If this doesn't do what you want, let me know.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Love this one Gary! Great colors and your truck reflecting in the eye is too cool!

[gary ellwein]

Dennis, this is above and beyond. I have never used layer style. Thanks for the introduction. Borders on everything!

[Dennis Bishop]

I like what you did with it. Have fun!!!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Gary, I'm very late to comment but the bird and everything about your presentation are stunning. It must be amazing to see these birds on the lek. You did a great job in post processing and the quality of the image is perfect. Dennis, thanks for your explanation on borders - I'll have to try it.

[Anita Bower]

Congratulations! Well deserved.