I captured this image at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm PF, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/2500 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 500 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2022 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation
Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 02-25-2022 at 09:06 AM.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Joe a nice side profile ... of this beautiful heron species .
Heron looks good , not sure about the plain blue BG ... looks almost like a composite , but guess it is just natural blue water surface .
I think this is a great example where direct sunlight in your back is not helping the image .... as the heron appears flat to me , missing a 3D effect .... I hope you get what I mean ??!!
I would try to get more tonal variation into the wonderful plumage .
Hi Joe a nice side profile ... of this beautiful heron species .
Heron looks good , not sure about the plain blue BG ... looks almost like a composite , but guess it is just natural blue water surface .
I think this is a great example where direct sunlight in your back is not helping the image .... as the heron appears flat to me , missing a 3D effect .... I hope you get what I mean ??!!
I would try to get more tonal variation into the wonderful plumage .
Cheers Andreas and TFS
Hi Andreas, thank you for viewing and commenting. You are correct that the background is natural blue water surface from the reflection of a clear blue sky. I masked the subject and made a couple changes. I added a little black and added a little texture. I also masked and lowered the exposure on the background by 0.2. WDYT?
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Joe ... glad you took my comment into account , I think you have chosen the " wrong " tools for my " idea " of creating a more 3D Lok into the plumage .
Specially the texture is not your friend ... as the image appears now crunchy , compared to the OP .
Just my take .
If you stay in LR .. I would rather use DEHAZE in this case and leave texture and blacks alone
Last edited by Andreas Liedmann; 02-25-2022 at 02:45 PM.
Hi Joe ... glad you took my comment into account , I think you have chosen the " wrong " tools for my " idea " of creating a more 3D Lok into the plumage .
Specially the texture is not your friend ... as the image appears now crunchy , compared to the OP .
Just my take .
Hey Andreas, it is said that three is a charm, well here is three. I took away the black and texture from the subject, lowered the exposure on the background by 0.3, so the background and the subject are at a slightly different exposure. WDYT?
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
I like the heron in the original post. I think some color gradient in the bg would have probably helped. But I know on really calm days the water can appear really blue, nothing you can do about that.
I love all three versions and do not see any big differences in any of them. I love the purple ruff. And I love working right on sun angle.
And go figure, I love the blue water BKGR.
with love, artie
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