Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Blue-winged Teal

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Staten Island, New York
    Posts
    3,124
    Threads
    260
    Thank You Posts

    Default Blue-winged Teal

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Some birds are beautiful because of their bold colors and some because of their subtle and muted colors. To me a male Blue-winged Teal is a stunning bird. This handsome male was photographed at Willowbrook Park in Staten Island. Taken this morning in early morning light while lying in a giant mudflat of frozen goose poop! On a recent trip to Florida I saw hundreds of these guys and some were quite close but I was not able to get a proper angle on them due to be on raised roads or dikes so chose to not even lift my camera towards them. I was bummed about not getting any pics of them while in Florida as they are typically extremely shy when passing through New York City during migration. So I was thrilled when I found this guy yesterday evening while taking a walk with my wife and kids. Went back first thing in the morning to try for some pictures.

    Canon 1DX and Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. ISO 800, F6.3, SS 1/2500. Manual with Evaluative Metering

    Processed with DPP 4.5 and PS. Noise reduction to background with Neat Image.

  2. #2
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Albuquerque, NM
    Posts
    11,879
    Threads
    917
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    The things we do to get a low shooting angle! I like how nicely you picked up the pink on the bird's head. I might brighten the image a bit and maybe back off on the blacks some.
    Upcoming Workshops: Bosque del Apache 2019, Ecuador 2020 (details coming soon)
    Website -
    Facebook - 500px

  3. #3
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Staten Island, New York
    Posts
    3,124
    Threads
    260
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Thanks for the info Doug. Could you tell me how exactly you would do that? If I go any brighter on the image, the white crescent will be blown out. I tried raising the mid tones a bit and also tried lifting the shadows but to me the bird was getting that artificially lifted look when I did that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

  4. #4
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Ithaca, NY
    Posts
    10,421
    Threads
    1,708
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Very nice bird, really like the smooth earth tones in the foreground and background.

  5. #5
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Albuquerque, NM
    Posts
    11,879
    Threads
    917
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    I made a selection of the bird and used it as a mask for a brightness/contrast adjustment layer (+8 brightness, -23 contrast) and a curves adjustment layer (raised the blacks a bit). What do you think of the results?

    Name:  Blue-winged-Teal-for-web.jpg
Views: 173
Size:  328.8 KB
    Upcoming Workshops: Bosque del Apache 2019, Ecuador 2020 (details coming soon)
    Website -
    Facebook - 500px

  6. #6
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Albuquerque, NM
    Posts
    11,879
    Threads
    917
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Here's an animated GIF to show you each step in the following order: original - brightness/contrast adjustment - curves adjustment.

    Name:  Blue-winged-Teal-for-web-v2.gif
Views: 167
Size:  376.8 KB
    Last edited by Doug Brown; 03-12-2017 at 02:46 PM.
    Upcoming Workshops: Bosque del Apache 2019, Ecuador 2020 (details coming soon)
    Website -
    Facebook - 500px

  7. #7
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Staten Island, New York
    Posts
    3,124
    Threads
    260
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Wow Doug. Thanks so much for the extremely detailed response. I think it looks better for sure. It does slightly have that lifted the darks look to me but your version is better. Thank you. With your curves layer where do you adjust the curve? Just lift the middle or what? Also it looks like you made the water a bit peachier as well.

    Ok so I went back and reworked with some of your suggestions. I think I got the spot where the darks are brighter without it looking artificially brightened. Wonder if you think this is better. I like it more.
    Last edited by Isaac Grant; 03-12-2017 at 07:49 PM.

  8. #8
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Albuquerque, NM
    Posts
    11,879
    Threads
    917
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Looks much better Isaac!
    Upcoming Workshops: Bosque del Apache 2019, Ecuador 2020 (details coming soon)
    Website -
    Facebook - 500px

  9. Thanks Isaac Grant thanked for this post
  10. #9
    BPN Limited Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    6
    Threads
    2
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    One of the best images I've seen of this species. Congrats! I think I see more peachy/colour in Dougs version as well... My 2 cents / personal preference is to keep the blacks a little darker than his final image, but I'm sure our monitors are all a little bit different.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics