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Thread: Northern Pintail

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    Default Northern Pintail

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    Today was one of those beautiful winter days in New York. About 20 degrees with cloudless blue skies and ideal light. Water was deep blue due to the perfect skies. From Central Park in New York City.

    Canon 1DX and Canon 500 f4ii. Tripod mounted while lying on the shoreline. ISO 800, F8, SS 1/3200

    Processed with DPP 4.5 and Photoshop.

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    Nice and sharp with good light, really like how the bird is parallel to you.

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    Hi Isaac, really beautiful frame of a lovely duck. Nice exposure and tones throughout. Well done.
    Allen

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    A handsome shot of this most elegant of waterfowl. Good angle and exposure. The small wavelet at first gives the impression that he is swimming downhill, but on second look it seems just right.

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    Lovely Isaac, like the light on his head and the pinkish brown you picked up, maybe a little tight in the frame, sweet!

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    This is working rather nicely for me. Perhaps a touch "grungy" grey on the neck's whites, but all-in-all this is a beautiful look at this elegant species.

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    This bird is in active molt and has just grown the tail as well. I have about 300 photos of it and in every one at many different exposures the whites on the breast are not pristine but are grayish and a bit messy. I considered whitening the whites but ultimately decided against it. I was even wondering if perhaps the feathers are not 100% waterproofed yet. I have a nice wing flap shot and the whites there are very grayish and some of the feathers look a bit water logged. By the way, do you have a good way to turn whites that are slightly gray white again? Always open to new ideas or some super moderator secret recipes...
    Last edited by Isaac Grant; 03-07-2017 at 09:53 AM.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Great shot Isaac, these ducks are always worth a second look - such elegant birds. I like the colours but would suggest lifting the very darkest blacks just a tad.

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    Thanks Jonathan. I did play with lifting the darks a little more. They were already lifted a tiny bit, but when I did so they got that I lifted the shadows too much look. So I decided to leave as is. Unless seen at the perfect angle I think this is an accurate representation of how the bird looked.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Hey Isaac, if the duck was this way then there is nothing wrong at all in leaving the whites as is. If mine and had I chosen to lift the whites, I'd likely have used the dodge tool, set "midtones" and with a low opacity (5-8%), and repeat if necessary.

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