Cormorant

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi folks i do not post much over here in Avian , mostly when i give a ride for my kit to not go rusty .
In this case i was trying different settings in camera ... wether i shoot with " Highlight Tone Priority" or not ......
This one was taken with "HTP" i cannot see any disadvantage in the raw file .
Taken at local town lake ..... my testing field for my kit , and the first time i found the Cormorants that close to the lake edge .
Reflections are coming from buildings on the opposite side of the lake .

Canon EOS 1Dx
Ef 500 IS L + 1,4 TC
HH

F 8 ; ISO 2500 ; 1/2000 sec

Processed with DPP 4 and PS CC ; cropped a bit from all sides and subject moved to the right in the frame .

Thanks for watching

Cheers Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wonderful colours and details Andreas, my cormorants are not anything like so colourful yet. I like the inclined head angle though in an ideal world he would have turned a few more degrees towards the camera.
I rather got the impression that Highlight Tone Priority was more trouble than it was worth - especially if left on unintentionally.

[adrian dancy]

A superb image. I love the water texture and colour.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice image Andreas, excellent details and exposure.

yes the HTP can ruin your capture. what it does it that it underexposes the photo and then pulls up the shadows but in a very crude way that makes it more noisy than your own processing and you cannot cancel its effect. Here there ins't much difference since the exposure was very good to begin with but if you had deep shadows it could have been disastrous. better to do it yourself

cheers

[Steve Kaluski]

Very nice Andreas, love the water droplets on the back plumage.

Interesting what Arash has said above after our exchange the other day and my thoughts about another image.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks so much folks for your kind comments , much appreciated .

Arash ... had a discussion the other day as Steve mentioned ... with him regarding the usage of HTP .... advantage or disadvantage ???
I can just speak for myself having not a big issue with this .. as i shoot "extreme" ETTR always borderline with the whites , so i hardly have to lift the shadows in most of my images. So this is most of the times not a problem for me , on the other hand i have better tonality to deal with in the HL .
But for sure this is just my view and experience , but i will try again with or without HTP .
In the end the output have to look good , whether here or printed .

Thanks again folks , cheers Andreas

[David Cowling]

Lovely image whatever method you used. Fantastic detail in the eye. I have never had one come anywhere near this close. The reflections work well for this image.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks David for your comment , much appreciated .

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Andreas, lovely image. Your Cormorant is so different than the one I just posted. Wonderful detail, nice work. Thank you for sharing.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Joseph for your comment ..... yes it is different for sure .... as it is another species