Black Vulture

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hoping for an early arrival of the migrants, birding is pretty slow right now. I captured this image of a Black Vulture at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. 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
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 1600 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[kevin Hice]

This is beautiful Joe love the light and detail is excellent. Not sure what happened noise on the left side of the screen almost down the middle seems to be background only. TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

This is beautiful Joe love the light and detail is excellent. Not sure what happened noise on the left side of the screen almost down the middle seems to be background only. TFS

Hey Kevin, thanks for viewing and commenting, After reading your critique I knew exactly how to fix it. Sometimes one can't see the trees because of the forest, I get so concentrated on processing the bird I missed that. I had blended the background with the Brush Tool in Photoshop and must have missed that area. Really nice to have another younger set of eyes. Thanks again...

[Brian Sump]

Joe, pretty mean portrait here. I wouldn't mess with the fella... looks like he's straight outta the scavenger mob :-p

The gaze and eye contact are intense; very strong. Nice choice of composition and plenty sharp.

I see you addressed Kevin's comments. However, there's still a good bit of grain behind the neck wrapping up around the head. Probably easier to address in PS with a mask so you can fully brush in behind the finer head hairs.

Otherwise, it feels just a touch thin in the mid-upper tonal range to my eye - perhaps lifting the shadows a bit globally (just a wild guess)? A touch more sun angle around to the left would have been sweet.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Joe, pretty mean portrait here. I wouldn't mess with the fella... looks like he's straight outta the scavenger mob :-p

The gaze and eye contact are intense; very strong. Nice choice of composition and plenty sharp.

I see you addressed Kevin's comments. However, there's still a good bit of grain behind the neck wrapping up around the head. Probably easier to address in PS with a mask so you can fully brush in behind the finer head hairs.

Otherwise, it feels just a touch thin in the mid-upper tonal range to my eye - perhaps lifting the shadows a bit globally (just a wild guess)? A touch more sun angle around to the left would have been sweet.

Thanks Brian, I will go back to the master file and have a go at it. Thank you for viewing and commenting.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Here is a new edit of the master file. No masking or blending of the background, a small amount of noise reduction in Neat Image applied to the whole image. What is behind the neck and wrapping up around the back of the head is in the original file and must be maybe the way the side light illuminated the feathers.

[Dorian Anderson]

These guys are underrated, especially until seen at close range like this. I think you've had a good go at correcting the noise issues, but the effect going on around the head and associated hairs is still distracting. It's a bit of a bummer since the stare he/she gave you such a killer stare. I'd also like a bit more depth-of-field across the bird's shoulder, but that's relatively minor. I've always wanted a good headshot of this species, so it sits well with me despite minor technical issues.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.

[John Mack]

Great detail on the bird. Yes the repost are much better in terms of image quality.