Northern Cardinal

[John Mack]

Feeder set up. This image was created in Ithaca, New York on 1/18/20 at 12:29PM. Image processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hand held, Small crop.

Canon 5D MarkIII
Canon 500 f/4 IS USM
ISO 1600
f8.0
1/500sec

[Randy Stout]

John:

Fits the theme very well. Bird is quite nice, with erect crest, the soft light gave good feather detail without shadows.

I might tinker with the snow a bit to try and bring back a bit more detail. Most of the snow is very high 240s to 250 or so, and you might be able to recover a bit, depending on your original exposure. Sometimes the detail extractor setting in Nik Color Effex Pro can recover some, and I have had some success with the new texture slider in LR.

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

I have had some success with the new texture slider in LR.

Dehaze will do the job better I think Randy, but again, you will probably need to do it as a Smart object and bring it back into PS with a mask. Personally I might have tried a change in the metering mode, but I'm pretty sure the metering wasn't as good as it could be because of a dark subject on a bright white environment. All three sliders are just Contrast sharpening, but a slight twist in each and so knowing works best will deliver the correct outcome, good call.

Gone are the days Randy off metering off the snow and +1 or more.

[Bill Dix]

A good image for the theme. Some good suggestions above, worth trying. I might also consider lightening the bird just a tiny bit.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi John, a nice image for the theme. Love how the bird pops against the snow.

[David Roach]

Another in a wonderful series. Perfect for theme. TFS