Hi all. Been busy putting a website together, but still managing to get out as much as I can. Here's a Royal Spoonbill I photographed recently. Not as pretty as the Roseate variety, but that's all we have here in Brisbane.
D500/500PF. 1/1600th sec@f5.6, iso800, manual mode. Basic adjustments in PS and cropped for presentation. Thanks as always for looking and commenting.
Love the leg lift pose! Great job on the whites. I don't find the BG a problem at all. It just gives the image a HK feel IMO. Very nicely done Paul! BTW, I like seeing this different species
Neat subject, and the raised foot adds interest. Good clean beach. I do feel the image is a touch bright overall, and maybe a bit tight comp-wise. BTW, perfect head angle here.
Love the eye and that yellow spot! The bird and the raised foot rock! Low would likely have been better.
with love, artie
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Paul, a neat view of this SB. I've not seen one and certainly different from the Roseate here in the US.
Lots of positives here; great pose and eye contact with the raised foot, nice clean bkg.
I think it has lots of potential. Do agree to loosen the crop just a touch and you might also look at adding a couple points of warmth and even magenta, of course compared with how you actually saw it.
Also, worth a look to mask the subject in PS and maybe selectively darken the bkg just a little to create separation on the subject. I could also use a slight bit more sharpening, esp in the face and legs/feet.
Hi Paul ... neat looking subject and very difficult to deal with in this kinda location !!!
You did well under the given circumstances , I do like the pose and the right shooting angle .
I would prefer a wider crop for his " royalty " .....
And I would try a real " high key approach " .... which means , all does go very bright and low contrast in the darker tones . I think the image , due to its nature , is crying to try it and see how it goes .
Personally I would separate the subject from the surrounding and work on both slightly different ... meaning going very bright in the surrounding and keeping a " ghostly " subject .
For sure an artistic approach ....
Hi Andreas. Thank you for the feedback and suggestions. Actually the original was a wider crop, but I took some off the right hand side as I felt it was too much, but as Daniel and you have commented, the original 12x8 crop might be better. There have been a few background/foreground suggestions here, so I might try them. Cheers.