display display display

[annmpacheco]

Holy smokers: this gorgeous snowy egret gave me the best ever display behaviors. I never realized there was a "beard" involved, but what a handsome guy!

Canon 1D-x
100-400mmII
100mm
iso 1250
f 6.3
1/2500

[Isaac Grant]

Such crazy pretty birds. And what a display! Takes a lot to win over you ladies

Nice that he posed in the open for you and I like the way the bird is framed by the branch above. Only critique from me is that the whites look a little on the gray side to me.

[annmpacheco]

Thanks Isaac, I agree with you, i put the eyedropper on and it automatically adjusted. However, would you please tell me what way to do this properly? Thanks

[Isaac Grant]

That is an improvement for sure Ann. I still think they could be just a tad whiter. Best way is to have proper exposure straight out of camera. If you have to make large highlight, exposure or shadow adjustments it can and will mess with your whites. For times when they need extra work the best way to handle this is when processing the RAW. Make sure that you import the file with white whites. I use DPP. Not sure what you use. If I am off out of camera I do a combination of the following.

Use the white balance dropper to set the white balance so you know you have all your whites in the mid 230's or whatever you tolerance is. I have imported into PS as high as the mid 240's but try my best not to. I rarely use that but do sometimes. I'd say 90%+ of my shots are using auto white balance.
Also use the highlights slider to raise or lower my highlights to get them nice and white.
In PS there are so many ways to do this and I would be eager to hear others techniques. Sometimes my whites are off and a bit dull I will place my bird on a separate layer, change the opacity to the 10-20% range and dodge them a bit to brighten them up. Keep the hardness of the brush in the 30% range and use a soft brush. Have to play with shot to make sure the settings are correct.
I have also used the white neutralizer in Color Efex set to varying opacities if they got off during processing. Used that a few times on Oystercatcher shots where I just wanted the whitest whites I could get.

Also eager to hear what others do...

[Lorant Voros]

Very, very nice with this well timed shot to have the symmetric pose. The bird is nicely framed with the green leaves. Super shot, congras.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Love the pose, Ann. What a contortionist. Put a smile on my face.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Glenn Conlan]

Great display, great information from Isaac on improving the whites

[annmpacheco]

Thanks Issac for your time and valuable information, thanks for everyone's comments!