Wilson's Phalarope at Sunset

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I made this image in Antelope Island State Park, UT.

Camera Settings:-
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Nikon D850 600 f/4 + 1.4 x TCIII
1/1600 f/9 ISO1250
Manual; Matrix metering


Post Processing:-
===============
Raw Processing using C1P 20
Crop from top left side
Tonal Adjustments in Viveza
Neat Image NR
Sharpening for Presentation
Dodge selectively
Cloned distracting elements in the background

Let me know your thoughts and comments.

Thanks
Krishna

[dankearl]

Very nice angle and light. How big a crop?
The IQ is not great, with your equipment this should be much better.
Why f9, it does you nothing except add iso.
Stopping down except for close up portraits is useless with big lens.
You added no DOF at the distance you shot at.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very nice angle and light. How big a crop?
The IQ is not great, with your equipment this should be much better.
Why f9, it does you nothing except add iso.
Stopping down except for close up portraits is useless with big lens.
You added no DOF at the distance you shot at.

I disagree, I think image quality is good. Not sure if you opened the image in a new tab. I have this issue in Bird photographers.net website, I always open the image in a new tab so see it to see image quality
With respect to f/9 I wanted to have the whole bird in focus and hence stopped down

[dankearl]

The image is crunchy, the eye and head are not sharp.
You gain nothing at f9 at the distance.
F5.6 is great for most anything posted here, almost all BIF is shot wide open.
Continue if you want, you only hurt IQ with higher iso.
What new tab are you talking about, I view every image the same way?

[David Roach]

Another beauty with great light, nice low POV, spot on EXP for details(especially in the white chin) and colors, awesome still but soft reflection and I love the feathers on water. TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good low angle, lovely light, and the rising foot is excellent. I love the feather below the bird, but would be temped to eliminate the other one. The IQ looks ok to me, but I do feel there is a bit of an "oversharpened" look to it, especially the face and neck.

[William Dickson]

I agree that it looks a wee bit over sharpened especially about the head area. All else looks good to me...Nice POV and the reflection adds

Will

[Brian Sump]

Krishna, I see the same as mentioned however for me the setting has a super nice soft feel and water color and reflection are very nice. Truthfully, I want the whole reflection here; just a bit too much of a tease for me as-is.

Also, just personal preference but your frames are so simple and captivating that it feels like it's worth cloning out those imperfections in the water.

Look forward to more...

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Krishna, I see the same as mentioned however for me the setting has a super nice soft feel and water color and reflection are very nice. Truthfully, I want the whole reflection here; just a bit too much of a tease for me as-is.

Also, just personal preference but your frames are so simple and captivating that it feels like it's worth cloning out those imperfections in the water.

Look forward to more...

Thanks Brain. I have other images with full reflections. Haven't gotten a chance to look into the same.
I tend to keep some imperfections in the water not to make it too sterile etc.
I did clone quite a few spots for this shot.

TFS

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Thank you all for the comments/suggestions.