Male Sharptail on the lek 2021

[kevin Hice]

Shot this male last Saturday in Nd. Shot from blind on the Lek. Processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop ,Topaz noise. Comments and critiques appreciated.
Canon 1DX 111
500 f/4 L IS
700 mm
Av 5.6
1/1600
ISO 6400

[Bill Dix]

Terrific alert pose and habitat. Lovely palette. The whole image feels just a bit pale to my eye, but having seen neither the bird nor ND in the winter, I could be all wet. Still, I wonder what a few points of black added to the mid-tones might do?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot but I think the overall exposure is too high, failing that the highlights are. The comb(?) above the eye is capable of revealing greater details are the plumage highlights, I would definitely take another peep at the raw file this is a super image. I would love to see a repost Kevin.

[kevin Hice]

I adjusted the mid-tones with curves and reduced the exposure plus added blacks in selective colors. Would appreciate if anyone can tell me a better way to adjust the mid-tones with some black points. It may look a little better with the exposure adj. But I don't think it looks like the original scene . It is very washed out here now everything is dead and rather flat look.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Bill for the comments. It is very dead and washed out look here now. I agree with you looks very pale but probably a better representation to the landscape now.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Jonathan, the repost looks a little better but again it is very dead here now and washed out look. We went through two weeks of minus forty and it takes a toll on the landscape. The original background is more accurate. Not sure about the bird.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Kevin,
Lovely capture w habitat grasses, nice alert look. Agree with above comments and repost looks better but i'd decrease exp more

[Jonathan Ashton]

I adjusted the mid-tones with curves and reduced the exposure plus added blacks in selective colors. Would appreciate if anyone can tell me a better way to adjust the mid-tones with some black points. It may look a little better with the exposure adj. But I don't think it looks like the original scene . It is very washed out here now everything is dead and rather flat look.

I don't think adding blacks is the answer I feel the initial exposure then the highlights followed by mid tones.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Kevin .... super cool image !!!
Nice surroundings and I really like the subject , the posing and the overall color / tone combo . The image does not look flat to me .

Personally I would not use " blacks " at all in general , just killing any potential details ..... IMHO .

If you want to create more tonal depth I would use either curves or use the " multiply blend mode " in combination with a luminosity mask .

Nice one

TFS Andreas