Hi All,
I hope this threat is appropriate.
This is a really lucky shot from a couple of months ago. I was photographing common terns when suddenly this one landed right in front of me. These birds are normally really shy and to have one that close doing its thing and being able to photograph it from such a low angle was amazing. I know the light conditions (I always prefer blue water for these kind of shots) and angle (even though it was an overcast day you can see the light comming from behind the bird) were less than ideal. Also the BG with a nearby bank showing a lot of black patches distracted from the bird IMO. I had already post-processed it but was not quite happy. I took it to photoshop again today with a lot of extra information on post-processing from this webforum. And this is the final draft. I did some enhancement to the eye, toned down the whites on the back, gave it a bit more saturation all round, did some noise reduction, paint brushed the black parts in the BG, desaturated the yellowish parts on the belly and took out a very small part of the relfection + distracting part of the BG. I am really interested if the things I did are an improvement. The first one is the IMO improved version and the second one the first draft.
Please tell me what you think, what adjustments are most effective and if it could use even more adjusting,
Canon EOS 30D 1/1250 f8 Manual
ISO 400
Canon 300 f2.8 L USM + 2X Converter
RAW
Last edited by Krijn Trimbos; 07-21-2008 at 03:22 PM.
Great portrait Krinjn, the pose with the foot up and the head angle+eye contact are super. The light is nice and soft and the details in the face and the bill really show well.
Where was the image made?
The optimised version does look much better especially in the face and eyes.
Thanks for the feedback, the image was made in Texel in the Netherlands. The place is called 'het wagejot' and is great for pied avocet, common tern, black headed gull, redshank and the occasional Spoonbill ;)
Last edited by Krijn Trimbos; 07-21-2008 at 03:21 PM.
The first post looks much better, the colors are stronger and the whole scene is nicer. I specially like the pose and eye contact here! Congratulaitons!
I like what you did, great pose, details and eye contact. The bank is a bit distracting but nothing you could have done about it. Thanks for sharing and the explanation!
Nice job on the repost Krijn. Excellent work on the face, bank, and BG. I think the bank provides a nice break/transition between the water and grass and also serves as a nice dividing layer between the yellow and green stripes of the BG and the different color layers of the water.
Steve