I've been working too much lately and getting a bit of shutter withdrawal so let loose on magpies on my front lawn tonight.
1DXII 400mm F/2.8L II & 2XIII 800mm 1/320 f5.6 iso800 -7ev HH full frame
Processed in CC Photoshop 2019
I've been working too much lately and getting a bit of shutter withdrawal so let loose on magpies on my front lawn tonight.
1DXII 400mm F/2.8L II & 2XIII 800mm 1/320 f5.6 iso800 -7ev HH full frame
Processed in CC Photoshop 2019
Neat looking bird. It gave you a nice pose. Looks a little blue.
Last edited by John Mack; 10-31-2018 at 05:31 PM.
Nice pose, and nice lawn in the drought. Like John a bit surprised by the blue. I hear they are voted Australia's favorite bird.
Thanks for the comments. Yes, probably a bit blue but there is a blue tinge to the back even in the raw image. Greg, we had 100 mm rain in October which helped the lawn considerably, I never water it!
Yes, the image is very blue/cold. He's giving you a wonderful look. I'm not sure if its the grass or the 2x, but the background looks kind of plasticy or something.
Nice proud pose and head angle here. For shots like this where the bird is walking in the grass I would suggest getting as slow as possible. Like laying down on the ground low then getting lower! It will make the bird appear larger and more grand which would accentuate the proud pose you have. More importantly it will help alleviate the problem of the busy and visually distracting background. If shot from ground level you would have a smooth and beautiful background as opposed to the one you have. Additionally, the processing is way off on this one Colin. The bird has a strong blue cast, it is noisy, you have a sharpening halo around most of the bird and some of the deepest blacks are blocked. The grass looks more like plastic or something and not green and vibrant grass.
Did a quick redo where I reduced the blue channel saturation by 50%, then reduced the blues in the whites by 90%. Reduced the blacks in the whites by -10, warmed the image a bit and ran a detail extractor/tonal contrast layer on the bird at 20%. Then some NR on the bird and some smart sharpening. Only trying to get the colors of the bird back to where they should be. But to properly process this file you will need to go back to the RAW file and correct the color cast and import a properly exposed and color correct file.
Isaac's repost and comments are all spot on. Did anyone mention the big halo on the breast that was in the original posted image?
with love, artie
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