Same little hen with juvi chick always looking to see what's to eat.
In ACR - Hightlight to the left -100, shadows to the left a tad, Black to the right. Clarity and vibrance added. In the HSL panel red, orange, yellow, green and blue all increased.
In PSCS6 - Curves adjustment layers, one on birds, one on BG. Water reflection cloned from adults face plate. Nictitating membrane removed from adults eye. HS Layer. Dodge and burn and water NR on BG. Cropped and leveled. Smart sharpened for web posting.
Very nice! These guys are proving good subjects. Nice sharpness and interaction.
Feels like it wants a little more CCW rotation, but hard to be sure with the birds at different angles.
Going L with Shadows then R with Blacks sounds strange. I would try lowering Exposure, then go R if needed with Shadows and L with Blacks. Then maybe you don't need to go so far with Highlights.
Usually, I will go with the ripple or else make sure the actual thing and its reflection are vertical. In this case, you might be able to use the yellow patch on the bill of the bird on the left and make sure it's vertical with the shadow.
Very nice interaction, colors, composition and low angle.
Definitely needs some CCW rotation. I would use the yellow patch on the bill of the right bird and rotate the image so the patch is vertical with it's reflection.
Diane - Thank you. Yep. Great little birds when they settle. "going L with Shadows and R with blacks"...Everything I do is strange, so I guess this is no exception. I went -100 in highlights to kill the brightness of those tail feathers. And then fiddled to it looked OK. But the way you have mentioned, sounds a bit more straight forward.
Adhika - Thank you. I normally try to go with ripples as well, but I think lining up the vertical line will work better here.
John - Thank you. Yep. CCW is needed. and yep, lining up the vertical line is probably best here.
Moorhen and Friend
