red-legged kittiwake

[Milo Burcham]

Red-legged kittiwake
Saint Paul Island

Another from my recent trip. This was a bird I really wanted to come away with nice images of, yet towards the end of my trip, realized I had spent too much time with puffins and crested auklets. I shot this in poor light, and was disappointed that the eyes appeared as dark pits, without any catchlight. Although I don't like to add a catchlight where none existed, I do like to try and emphasize what little there might be in that "dark pit" of an eye. After using some "eye doctor" tricks (selecting the eye with 3 px feathering, increasing contrast with levels, and reducing noise with Gausian blur and blur tool) I was very happy with the results.

5D, 600/4 + 1.4

[Glenn Bartley]

I think it looks great. Nice PS work and a really nice result.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Milo,
I looks good on my monitor. Te BG is also very nice but might blend the whitish blob just behind & above the head in the BG to smooth it out. Nice portrait of the species.