White Ibis... breeding color and plumage

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yesterday I posted a White Ibis as it is most of the year. Today's post is a White Ibis that is breeding. Profound changes, tip of the bill blackens, upper bill and face turns red, gular sac is red and pronounced. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, image captured at 400mm
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 360 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Alex Becker]

Quite a change looking between the two posts. Colors look great here, as does the exposure. Nice details. Might be tempted to crop a bit off the right as I'm drawn to the reds so the comp feels a bit unbalanced. TFS

[gail bisson]

I love the red and the blue. Also find it really cool that the blue in the eye matches the blue in the BG perfectly.
I see some blues in the whites mostly on the top of the body. Easy fix.
Have you posted this image before? I am sure I have seen it before but perhaps it is my senility at work?
Gail

[dankearl]

Another excellent Portrait of the species.
Whites are great, nothing I would change.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I too could go for a bit more of a cut at right, but all else is top notch. Beautiful whites, great reds and blues, and lots of detail. Super!

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the image as presented beautiful colours and details...
(a little surprised you needed NR??)

[Joseph Przybyla]

I love the red and the blue. Also find it really cool that the blue in the eye matches the blue in the BG perfectly.
I see some blues in the whites mostly on the top of the body. Easy fix.
Have you posted this image before? I am sure I have seen it before but perhaps it is my senility at work?
Gail

Hi Gail, thank you for viewing and commenting. I did post a similar image from the series that had the eye about a third covered by the nictitating membrane. This one the eye is clear. I decided not to correct the blue on the shadowed areas, it's natural to have a blue tint to white feathers in the shadow. Artistic license. Thanks again I always value your comments.

[John Mack]

Great detail on this one. The breeding plummage makes this one. I like the framing as is.

[Joseph Przybyla]

I like the image as presented beautiful colours and details...
(a little surprised you needed NR??)

Hi Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. I use Neat Image on all my images, set the default of 60% noise removal. If the background is pure, soft focus, smooth, it works well. With a pure background Neat Image's algorithms can separate what is noise from the feather detail. Also the image must have been exposed correctly in the field, Underexposed images do not work, too much noise to begin with, the noise ratio is higher than the signal/light. Thanks again, Jon.