Razorbill

[Alex Becker]

Hi all,

A razorbill from the Farne Islands. In post, slight crop, tried to balance the blacks and whites while avoiding a flat look (not sure if I succeeded...), NR on the BG, sharpened, and slightly lighted the eye. Cloned some poo from the rock.

Camera: Nikon D500
Lens: 200-500mm f/5.6 at 500mm
Specs: 1/1250 ISO 1100 f/6.3

Thanks for looking and commenting on prior posts!
Alex

[Ilija Dukovski]

I love these birds, for the simple reason I only get to see them in winter, way out there in some wild sea weather.
There is some flatness in the whites but I don't mind it too much. Gives a bit of "high-key' look. I love the detail in the blacks though.

[Glenn Pure]

Alex, a nice shot of a bird I've never seen before (like many on BPN for me). I noted your comment about dealing with the blacks and whites and avoiding lack of contrast. The way I'd do it for this shot is to select the black areas and do my lighting adjustments, then do the same for the white areas. Not sure how you do it. I suspect you could pull a bit more out of the whites here. Blacks look pretty good but a selective adjustment on the head might lift it a bit as well. Hope I'm not telling you stuff you already know. If so, apologies.

[Alex Becker]

Thanks both -- very much appreciated. I'll take another look at the whites and see about pulling some more detail into that area. Glenn, always happy to hear about how others do things and their workflows, and I'll give that strategy a go for this shot / similarly exposed frames. Thanks again!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Alex nice shot but I agree it does look a little flat, I have taken the liberty of adding a little texture and definition - WDYT? I simply used TC/DE in Color Effex and varied the opacity using a mask and brush.

[Alex Becker]

Hey Jonathan -- thanks for taking the time to do an edit, I really appreciate it. I think your edit is definitely a step in the right direction. I've only ever toyed with the DE a tiny bit but looking at your edit I think I should revisit that tool as it certainly brought back a lot more detail and texture in the whites. I'll give it a go this weekend. Thanks again!