Snipe.

[keith mitchell]

Nikon D7000
Nikon 300ml 2.8
1/320@f7.1
iso200.

Not sure about the crop but tried to leave as much of the BG which I like.
Thanks for having a look.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Keith,

Nice to catch the Snipe out in the open like that in good light. Love that great long beak. Did he give you any side-on body views as well?

You seem to have bit of a magenta colour cast on the image, so you should take another look at that. In terms of the composition, to my taste, the post is a bit too dominant, so I would chop about half of that away and add a bit more of the background above.

Thanks for sharing, Gerald

[Karl Egressy]

Hi Keith,
Nice head turn eye contact and I like the moss covered perch. I would have more room on the right and less room on the left
to balance the composition.
Also, as Gerald already mentioned there is a magenta cast.

[keith mitchell]

Thanks Gerald and Karl, Gerald got lots of shots of Snipe in all poses which I will get around to posting, liked the colour of the Bg so much I missed the cast so thanks for pointing it out, hope I have cured the problem.

Cheers Keith.

[Ivan Ellison]

Lovely Keith, I too like the BG. Nice head angle shows the size of the beak well.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Keith, love the image of the snipe out in the open. There is less magenta in the repost but still slightly there. I had a go at trying to remove it to no avail, when the magenta is gone it goes to green. Just the light at the time I guess.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Keith, great pose from the Snipe, and nicely posed against your clean smooth BG. I agree the post is a touch too large in the frame, so cropping up from the bottom wont harm. I would also take a bit off the top. Your repost is better, but I still see a bit of magenta.

I will have a go at it a little later.

[keith mitchell]

Thanks Ivan and Joe , Stuart I must back off these birds it's a full frame shot which I must admit does make it a bit big in the frame, would be very interested to see what you make of the magenta ,thanks.

Cheers Keith.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Keith,

Hope you don't mind, but I decided to have a crack at the colour myself. Also tweaked the composition slightly.

But this is more where I think the colour should be - my opinion only, of course.

The belly seems to be persistently quite grey rather than a bit more white - not sure what is happening there.

What do you think? Gerald

[keith mitchell]

Gerald don't mind a bit in fact this is what I like, it,s an image I have had a while with bits I'm not sure about composition is one point,like your version ,think maybe was trying to lift and show the water droplets on the bird and the colours of the BG and forgot the basics. Think maybe the dull white is just shadow under the bird.

Can't see any magenta cast on your version, mind telling me what you did?

Thanks Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Keith, love your Snipes and this is another 'belter'. Looks like early in the morning based on the light and what appears to be frost on the post? Nice detail and I also like the position and HA, especially with the little bit of mud on the bill.

I think Gerald did a very good RP, but I think if you also juggle with the Blue, Purple & Magenta you can get a better balance in the plumage & whites. Also dropping the Exposure by a third more detail also appears in the legs & post. From what I can see you have a very good capture, just teasing the finer detail out will prove to be a stunner.

Trust Japan was a good trip, hope to see some results from it soon.

All the best.
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Thanks for that Steve, a few faults but a lot I like about it.

Keith.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Keith,

I see that Steve has posted a very good repost - so not sure if you still need my input on this...

Nevertheless, it is a pretty basic technique thus: from Background, create an empty Layer then Edit>Fill with 50% Grey and use Normal Blending at Fill menu, then apply Difference blending to Layer. Next create a Threshold Adjustment Layer and move the slider to the left until you have the first area of solid black appear. Select the Eyedropper Colour Sampler tool and use that to place a marker on the solid black - this should be your 50% midtone. Deselect the Threshold and Fill Layer, open a Curves Adjustment layer and use the midtone dropper to select the marker. This should then give you a neutral colour cast. Because of the variability of the background, I actually tried a couple of different markers to get a tone that I thought was about right - just to confound the science!

Hope this is useful! Regards, Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Keith, Gerald has given you a good way to get the 'mid grey' via PS, I will use the eye dropper in LR, but you should try this for several reasons, bank this info, thanks Gerald.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, sharpness, BG and composition in Gerald`s repost. Very well done Keith.

[keith mitchell]

Thanks to you all much appreciated.

Cheers Keith.

[David Salem]

Very nice Keith. I like the pose and I don't mind the post at all. Steve's re-post looks best to my eye as it has eliminated the magenta and brought out the details well. Nice work