Last year one of the times I was leaving Gatorland after shooting at the rookery, I walked past a pool with Flamingos. I could not pass up a chance to give them a go. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 160, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
I love the curvature of the neck. I think the color is sublime. If I have to nitpick, the eye is not ideal. It's so weird to see such a small pupil. But it is what it is. Great shot!
Agree, the curves of the neck, bill and even the shoulder/back are great. Obviously very bright light, hence the tiny pupil.
I might give it just a sliver more space, top, bottom and left, but a very minor point.
I did run a 60% multiply layer on a luminosity mask of the highlights, and felt it made the colors even richer and toned down the brighter areas just a bit. Something to consider.
Hi Joe, very striking and I like the 'S' shape curve of the head/neck, even with the over lapping bill on the neck. I might look to having the same dark, rather patchy colour as the whole BKG and to eliminate the brighter green at the foot, plus running a Luminosity mask on the lighter area of the plumage on the RHS, neck and head. Running it on the head & beak on the lighter areas brings a bit more definition & form.
Hi Joe, that I think is going along the lines of what I had in mind and perhaps Randy too, but I'm sure he will reply on his thoughts later. Personally, I think if you had sampled the dark green and used that in parts i.e. towards the foot and retained the 'patchy' looking feel, it may have softened the BKG as the black I find a bit too severe???? Also, don't forget the nostril 'vent', it's still green .
If you used a % Luminosity then I might have gone stronger on the white part of the beak and the lighter area of the wing just for more detail/definition.
Joe, it's just my take, however do you think it has improved the image, if you are happy, that is what matters.
As practice makes perfect and every image is a work in progress, I went back to the original and worked again on this image. There is much I like better. The bill is more defined, not getting lost in the black background. I think the color is more rich and the exposure better on the bird. I struggle with the color of the bird because I have not seen many to be able to say that's the color it should be. Above is the do over...
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Both reposts work better than the OP. Photographing this bird in early morning or evening would make all of the difference, and I just love the curves.