Photographed this very cooperative young plover at Wolfe's Pond Park in Staten Island, New York. Late evening light. Honestly I really struggle with these types of situations sometimes in post. I love the light but when viewing on my screen it is often over saturated. If I use click white balance I get nice whites but I lose that beautiful light which was the reason I am out in the first place. If I use AWB then often I have to lower the saturation to get it to look better. I have over 100 pics of this bird in almost every different pose. Legs up, sideways, walking at me, etc. I chose this one cause it was looking right at me and very close and to me had an interesting and different leg position as it was walking towards me. Really that is what nature photography is all about. To have the birds accept that you are not a threat and go about their business practically paying you no mind.
I am eager to hear others thoughts on which WB they use typically in these type of shots. For another shot I processed it 4 ways and can't decide which I like most. Processed using AWB, AWB with some added saturation, Click WB and CWB with some added warmth/saturation.
Canon 7dii and Canon 500 f4ii +1.4x iii. ISO 500, SS 1/1250, F7.1, -1/3.
Converted in DPP. Auto White Balance as I decided that was the most natural look. In PS I cropped, sharpened, applied noise reduction to background and adjusted my normal sliders of contrast, hue/saturation and highlights and shadows. Bird has green legs because it was walking in some shallow water that had an algae bloom. I have shots of it right near that water as well.
Beautifully sharp and detailed. The colours are very pleasing, it looks rather like our ringed plover the colours of which are similar but not so saturated. A super image the angle of view is optimal and distractions minimal.
Juvenile Semipalmated Plover
Reply With Quote
