Juvie Roseate Spoonbill preening

[gail bisson]

Took this last April in Florida.
Canon 1Dx 600mm vII and 1.4 x
SS 1/2000 f 6.3 ISO 800
Taken at ~ 7:00AM
PP: Cropped from horizontal to full vertical and added 2% canvas at the bottom for the virtual feet. Cloned out some spots in water near the legs.
I am not happy with the shadowed area of the neck and the "blue" caste I see. I tried many different things to try to get rid of it but was unsuccessful. Any suggestions? Or perhaps I am being too picky and I should leave it alone.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks.
Gail

[Ross Taylor]

Hi Gail,

The pink on blue background is a wonderful color explosion, yet the colors are pleasingly soft.

To me the vertical format is the best choice for this shot.

I think that if the white neck or shadowed part was perfectly "neutral" in color, it would look unnatural in that setting. Notice there is some pink reflected on the neck as well, and that pink blending with the blue makes for some subtle purples too. I would consider leave it as-is and enjoy the wonderful colors and their reflections.

Ross

[Joseph Przybyla]

One of your best, I would not touch a thing. Thank you for sharing, Gail.

[Grace Scalzo]

Wonderful. I think that this would look so sweet in a baby's nursery with the lovely colors and quiet feel to the image. Colors look perfect to my eye.

[gail bisson]

Grace- I thought the EXACT same thing when I first saw this on the computer screen! Great minds thnk alike!

[keith mitchell]

Gail I love the colours on this, would not change a thing.

[Mike Poole]

Beautiful details throughout, the blue in the neck just looks like natural lighting to me

[stuart wanuck]

Sweet image

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looks pretty darn good with that preening pose and really neatly ruffled feathers. My first thought was that the image was rather cool as far as WB goes, but I still do like it as is.

[gail bisson]

Daniel- you are brilliant! This is my repost with a bit of warming up. I really like it now. Thanks

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Gail, wonderful images - both the original and repost. Love the soft colors.
Allen

[Bill Dix]

Sweet. Never seen such a delicate looking spoonie. Repost does it!

[Marina Scarr]

Daniel has an amazing eye. I have a difficult time seeing the difference, although the RP looks a bit softer in terms of colors. I find this image so pleasing and relaxing, Gail. It has a ethereal quality.

[Robert Kimbrell]

Beautiful image Gail. I also thin Daniel was spot on. But both images work well.

[David Salem]

This is gorgeous Gail!! What a great one to print and I think if there wasn't any cloning done, this one is a great contest candidate :)
I definitely prefer the first one. I like the blues and to be honest I would select only the blues and saturate them a hare more. Very nice work on this sweet image.

[Doug Brown]

A little late to the party but I thought I'd try my hand at a repost of this fine image. I did a selection of the bird and created a hue/saturation adjustment layer that masks everything but the bird. I then desaturated and lightened the blues and brought up the pinks and reds. I also created a color balance adjustment layer for the bird, and moved the magenta/green slider into the magentas and the yellow/blue slider into the yellows. Hope you like my changes!

[gail bisson]

Doug- this looks good. You fixed the problem I had with the blues in the neck perfectly. Will rework my RAW with your changes.
Many thnaks,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

Wow. Now I see a difference, and I like what I see. The pinks are a little more vibrant. Just love this image. It's worth the work.

[gail bisson]

I reworked the image as per Doug's suggestions. Thanks Doug.
I didn't darken the pinks as much as you did because I remember the light as being really soft because the early am sun was behind some wispy clouds.