Mallard Drake

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Head Portrait of Mallard Drake taken at Tracy Aviary UT

Getting low as much as I could to get a clean background

Nikon D500, 1.4x TCIII
1/500 sec; f/5.6; ISO 1250
Manual; Matrix metering


Post Processing:-

Raw Processing using C1P
Dodging and Burning
Neat Image for NR
Nik 30-30 Filter


Let me know your thoughts and comments.

Thanks
Krishna

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the head angle, sharpness, low angle and complimentary BG. I see why you chose this composition to include the purple on the wing but it feels unbalanced to me. Nice image Krishna.

[Isaac Grant]

Nice pose, nice details and nice background. You didn't mention the lens. With the 600? Also there is a yellow cast to this shot which is what I have mentioned on many of the shots processed with C1P and the reason that I do not like the program. Must be something going on because I do not see Arash's shots having this issue but surely mine did and yours as well.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I do not think that there is yellow cast in the image. This was taken on cloudy day with white balance set to cloudy in camera. White balance was adjusted in post processing.

I set the white balance based on the whites on the neck. I checked the white to make sure that the values or RGB to same.

My understanding is that if the RGB values are same and if they are in 230 (preferably around 235), then there is not color cast.

Let me know if I am missing somethings.

[Isaac Grant]

All I can tell you is the bird is yellow regardless of what the numbers say. When you set white balance for cloudy it will introduce a bunch of yellow into the image to try and warm it up. Change the white balance to as shot and see what it looks like. Honestly I do not ever check histograms for anything other than if I have blown the whites in an image. For the rest I use my eye 100% of the time and my eyes clearly see a yellow mallard.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Can you process it and show me the Yellow cast ?

[John Mack]

Classic mallard frame. Nice and sharp with good detail.

[Isaac Grant]

Sure. Email it to me. But i am sure you can just have the bird selected and reduce the yellows and see what the difference looks like.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I opened the image and tried to reduce saturation in Yellow Channel with mask on Bird, I did not notice any difference.

[Isaac Grant]

Went into NIK and into REMOVE COLOR CAST. Selected color #50 which is in the middle of the yellows. Just did it globally to the whole image at 100% opacity. Then I just added some blacks to the reds, greens and mid tones just because it looked a touch washed out. You see the yellow gone from the bird now?

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

The way I look at is it looks much more bluish, with different white balance ...

Thanks for the info.

[Isaac Grant]

Do you see the yellow removed from the bird? If you want to fix this you have to sart over and not use a white balance that turns the Mallard yellow. I am just showing you what happens when you remove the yellow from the bird that you are saying isn’t there. Sorry but as presented it looks nothing like a Mallard. They are not yellow and yes the mottled color on a mallard is more of a grayish blue in tone.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Do you see the yellow removed from the bird? If you want to fix this you have to sart over and not use a white balance that turns the Mallard yellow. I am just showing you what happens when you remove the yellow from the bird that you are saying isn’t there. Sorry but as presented it looks nothing like a Mallard. They are not yellow and yes the mottled color on a mallard is more of a grayish blue in tone.

Thank you. I appreciate your inputs in helping me understand color casts much better