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Thread: American White Pelican

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    Default American White Pelican

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    This image was captured at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida. Every winter White Pelicans stop off at Lake Mortion, some moveon, some remain. The day I captured this image there were over one hundred, I think my wife counted one hundred and ten. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

    Nikon D500
    Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
    1/500 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV +1/3 ISO 180 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm equivalent)
    Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction when needed
    Cropped to 16x9 for composition and presentation
    The BAA Middle of Florida Site Guide
    P.S. Learn more about Lake Morton in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available at this link The BAA Middle of Florida Site Guide
    Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 01-10-2021 at 05:59 PM.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Joe, Pelicans almost always look nice on any dark bkg but rarely see them on brighter (high key). I actually quite like this.

    Although a little catchlight would be great, I like the pose and you brought a good bit of detail out. Think you could push sharpening any further?

    I see a decent bit of blue in the feathers. I wonder if you take the blue hue layer and slide it down to see if it makes a difference?

    Great dof too. Well done from me.

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    Joe real nice love the high key. I see the blue but isn't that natural light with the sky? Maybe a tad more sharpening. Love it .TFS

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    High key works great here. Really digging the pose as well. The detail on the whites looks great.

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Vey nice white on white.
    Good comp.
    I wish there was a catchlight in the eye or some reflection to five the eye a bit of light.
    A fine frame,
    Gail
    PS Yes, to removing the blue in the whites.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Sump View Post
    Joe, Pelicans almost always look nice on any dark bkg but rarely see them on brighter (high key). I actually quite like this.

    Although a little catchlight would be great, I like the pose and you brought a good bit of detail out. Think you could push sharpening any further?

    I see a decent bit of blue in the feathers. I wonder if you take the blue hue layer and slide it down to see if it makes a difference?

    Great dof too. Well done from me.
    Hey Brian, thank you for viewing and commenting. After reading your comment/suggestion I looked closer and could see blue fringing where the shadows meet the background. I had checked the white feathers on the bird and removed some blue that I found in the shadows but missed the fringe. This morning I removed the blue in the fringes, if in this repost you see more please let me know. Then I will have to discover why it does not show when I check the RGB values. Thanks again...
    Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 01-11-2021 at 08:39 AM.
    Joe Przybyla

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Joe, looks fantastic to me! Just a touch on top of the back but I did the RP. Well done :-)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Sump View Post
    Joe, looks fantastic to me! Just a touch on top of the back but I did the RP. Well done :-)
    Thanks Brian, I missed the top of the back. Will fix that. Here is a edit with that fixed. I need to discover why I am not seeing that except when pointed to it. Thanks again.
    Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 01-11-2021 at 10:16 AM.
    Joe Przybyla

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    Great pose, love the HK BG as well. Nit already mention on catchlight and the repost with the blue removed from the feathers looks great.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Joe, I like the design when I think you may have posted something similar last month, but here you blew the BKG, any particular reason?

    The RP is much better, however just reducing key colours 'Globally' may not be the right route, I guess it's what/how you wish the final image to look like, but as I have stated and expanded on many times over the years, both here and in Wildlife, the only way to achieve more 'cleaner whites' is to address this issue with PS, you can't do it any other way.

    So I won't play the cracked record again Joe, but I do like the image.

    TFS
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi Joe, I like the design when I think you may have posted something similar last month, but here you blew the BKG, any particular reason?

    The RP is much better, however just reducing key colours 'Globally' may not be the right route, I guess it's what/how you wish the final image to look like, but as I have stated and expanded on many times over the years, both here and in Wildlife, the only way to achieve more 'cleaner whites' is to address this issue with PS, you can't do it any other way.

    So I won't play the cracked record again Joe, but I do like the image.

    TFS
    Steve
    Hi Steve, this image is from the same series on another image I posted previously. I liked the pose of the bird but did not want to repeat what I had done to the previous image. I worked this one up without looking at the previous image posted.

    "however just reducing key colours 'Globally' may not be the right route"

    I didn't reduce any key colors globally. I did increase the white globally to where I wanted the RGB values on the white feathers to be, doing that clipped the background colors. I used local adjustments using the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom to open shadow areas on the bird and then to reduce the blue saturation that opening the shadows revealed.

    but as I have stated and expanded on many times over the years, both here and in Wildlife, the only way to achieve more 'cleaner whites' is to address this issue with PS, you can't do it any other way.

    I am puzzled by this comment. I think you use Lightroom, so I am not sure what you use LR for or how you use LR. Lightroom was developed to make things done in Photoshop easier. One example is sharpening in Lightroom. The Masking Slider in the Detail module takes about twenty steps in Photoshop and in Lightroom puts it on a slider to see exactly where the sharpening will be applied. Lightroom was also made to be non-destructive so that layers (which increase image size) as used in Photoshop are not needed. You, Artie and others began using digital cameras when Photoshop was the only way. Each update of Lightroom has added more tools, recently color masks and luminance masks were added that can be used making local adjustments. I'll give you an example from this image. On the right side of the birds head there were heavy shadows I wanted to lighten. I brushed over that area with the Adjustment Brush, I then clicked to create a Luminance Mask. Holding down the ALT key while moving the luminance slider I was able to isolate the adjustment to only the feathers I wanted to lighten. You began when there was only Photoshop and you know that inside and out, I do not. I began with Lightroom and know that inside and out. We end up at the same place, just do things differently.
    So I won't play the cracked record again Joe, but I do like the image.

    Thank you, stay healthy my friend...

    P.S. The other image previously posted I intentionally left the background untouched because I entered it in a bird portrait contest in Bird Watchers magazine. Rules of the contest said that the background should be as captured only allowing normal exposure/tone mapping changes.
    Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 01-12-2021 at 10:29 AM.
    Joe Przybyla

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    OK Joe, I just thought you had simply pegged the Blue saturation back to reduce the Blues.

    Certainly working on these birds you are making a difference each time, so all positive in my book.

    I guess I just tackle certain things in a different way Joe and no my limitations within LR and use PS to do the things LR can't. BTW the new additions if you like, the three colour wheels have always been there within LR, all they have done is expanded it and made it perhaps more user friendly, but it's nothing new, perhaps shades of C1????

    You too Joe, and take advantage of being able to get about and to continue in photographing in a safe manner, lockdown isn't fun, but we all have to play our part in this.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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