Silver Gull

[Glennie Passier]

This young silver gull delighted me. I have so many funny frames of him bathing in the freshwater creek. The little sea gull spent a lot of time with a large group of wood ducks. I did not expect to find so many woodies on the beach. Maybe it was the severe weather that we were all encountering?

Very dark storm clouds overhead and a howling wind. The reddish colour in the water is tannum from the paperbark trees.


In ACR - Increased exposure. Highlights -100, Whites -10.
In PSC6 - Curves layer adjustment on bird. NIK Tonal Contrast. Cropped and NR on BG. Touch of clarity.

Canon 5D2
Sigma 150-600mm @ 600mm
ISO 1000
1/1250
f8
Hand held

C&C Always welcomed and appreciated!

[Diane Miller]

Great catch! Love the pose and sharpness. My only question is the Whites slider. Your brightest tones here are not close to white, and bringing them up instead of down would make a more pleasing image as we expect to see a fuller tonal range. Believe the histogram before your monitor, if there is a discrepancy.

[Glennie Passier]

Thank you Diane. I have gone back into ACR and increased the whites to +30. I've done no other adjustments in PS for this one. I get worried about whites being hot, so tend to try to tone them down.

[Diane Miller]

Better, but I'd go even further. Just let the histogram be your guide! The eye wants to see a good tonal range.

I might even do some Nik CEP Detail Extractor, Pro Contrast or Tonal Contrast here.

[Glennie Passier]

Looks great Diane. Thank you! This is getting close to the image I was hoping to achieve. I have been playing with the NIK thingys but haven't seen the CEP Detail Extractor. I did a Nik Tonal contrast on the OP.

[Diane Miller]

The raw files are very low contrast in order to preserve dark and light tonal detail, so it can be hard to know where to stop in adjustments. The histogram is the best clue.

Detail Extractor will increase noise (no free lunch, yet) but mess with the Contrast slider and Effect Radius keep the % amount low. It can work small wonders. Tonal Contrast is also very useful.

[Warren Spreng]

I love the soft tones in this one, makes for a very "peaceful" look!

[Jim Keener]

Success with high key. Now I really am jealous. And the tannum makes the image for me. I might be tempted to push for a blacker black and up the orange/yellow of the beak, but that's just me.

About Nik. Diane, those are my favorite options in Nik CE4.

Looking forward to putting up some images probably next week. Moving this week and learning new camera and lens and will post something hopefully from a 5DS R / 300mm f/2.8 combination. Meanwhile you folks keep pushing things further ahead of me. Lots of catching up to do.

Glennie, this is one of my favorites. Loving the way you experiment.

[Glennie Passier]

Jim, I will be waiting with bated breath. I have missed your images. You know the ones...one legged, no legged birds!

Good luck with the move!

[Diane Miller]

Same here -- it will be great to have you back!