Black Billed Magpie

[kevin Hice]

I shot this magpie off of a road hit deer. Canon 5D Mark 1V, Manual exposure. Processed DPP 4,Photoshop,levels,sharpen used patch tool to take out a few small artifacts. One problem found with Magpies they close the nictitating membrane very frequently.More than any other bird species I have shot and it is very Opaque white.
Ef 300 2.8 L 1.4 Teleconverter
Shutter speed 1/2500
Aperture 7.1
ISO 1600

[Isaac Grant]

Great wing position and background. The blacks of the head look blocked to me and overall I wish there was a little more detail in all of the blacks.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I agree the backs could be opened up a little.

Nice Wing position and Head Angle.

Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Dix]

I agree it would be good to open up the blacks on the head, if possible. But that is the only nit I see on this terrific flight shot. Great wing position, good look at the eye, nice background.

[Alex Becker]

Another vote to try to bring some more detail out in the head but love the wing and tail position. Nice light to show off the colors as well and a clean BG. TFS

[kevin Hice]

This was the first edit I did on the magpie, but I thought the one I posted looked better. I personally liked the blacks darker.What do you think of this one or is it too light? White might be too hot. Maybe a edit between
the two would be better. Thanks for the critiques very much appreciated.

[Isaac Grant]

I think this version looks artificially lightened. It really is so difficult to get exposure perfect on these birds. As you said you need to keep the blacks black but somehow get details as well. What are you doing to lift the blacks and retain detail?

[kevin Hice]

Isaac moving the shadow slider in Dpp4.

[Jim Crosswell]

A real beauty Kevin! I like the original post over the repost. Great wing position, BG, sharpness and composition.