This image was captured at a stop along Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Merritt Island, Florida. I was fortunate to find this gorgeous bird in full breeding plumage and colors perched on a small island not far from the road. Sitting on top of the banking at the edge of the road I captured images of this bird. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, Handheld
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV +1 ISO 2000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Joe, species like this make me envious I'm not in the gulf/pacific region. How do you not love that bright pink/purple beak!?
Nice pose on this one. Quite a bit of detail available and 5.6 was just enough to get the beak tip too! Solid on the noise reduction but still seems to be pretty grainy on the gray back area.
Overall a nice crop. Like how you kept the left most chest feathers intact. Maybe could leave just a touch more left if you had it (shift subject right?). Also, pulling it into LR it appeared it could benefit from a few points warmth from my seat.
Cool bird Joe, WB looks about bang on, but +5 on the Tint just lifts the green a bit more. Great detail, but add an RGB Curves channel adjustment and it just pops a bit more and you see more detail in the grey/blue plumage IMHO. Well done.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Joe, species like this make me envious I'm not in the gulf/pacific region. How do you not love that bright pink/purple beak!?
Nice pose on this one. Quite a bit of detail available and 5.6 was just enough to get the beak tip too! Solid on the noise reduction but still seems to be pretty grainy on the gray back area.
Overall a nice crop. Like how you kept the left most chest feathers intact. Maybe could leave just a touch more left if you had it (shift subject right?). Also, pulling it into LR it appeared it could benefit from a few points warmth from my seat.
TFS Joe.
Hi Brian, thank you for viewing and commenting. Just far enough for the bill to be in focus using F/5.6, I need to shoot open because of limited light, overcast sky. I probably can reduce the grain/noise in the grays and dark using the Adjustment Brush for a local adjustment with a luminosity mask to limit the adjustment to only the darks. Thanks again...
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Cool bird Joe, WB looks about bang on, but +5 on the Tint just lifts the green a bit more. Great detail, but add an RGB Curves channel adjustment and it just pops a bit more and you see more detail in the grey/blue plumage IMHO. Well done.
TFS
Steve
Hi Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting. I will try raising the Tint +5 and a RBG curve channel adjustment. I appreciate your suggestions, always a good guide.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams