In the Rookery viewing platform, I came under scrutiny of this Gannet.
Un-cropped. ISO 800, M exposure 1/1600 f/9.0, manual flashed a bit. Lens was 24-105 at 105mm. Processed in Lightroom2, Sat bumped up just a bit and Recovery brought the sky back down a touch. Quick Mask was used to sharpen and lighten (curves) the eyes, per APATS.
What a look! I don't know much about post editing techniques, but if the bright light background, could be darkened or color changed a bit? I think the bird would stand out more. I love the pose!
I like this, too. Wow - that expression is just priceless. "Perturbed" is the word that comes to mind. This is a really interesting vantage point. Whites on the bird look fine to me - the sky and the bird have pretty good separation even though the sky is high key. I like that the under side of the platform is visible, instead of going to black.
Thank you all....yes, I didn't want to mess much with the gradient between bird and sky, ceiling and bird. It would have looked like a bad HDR if I punched everything to a luminous middle. I think that is the mistake most commonly made with these amazing tools, the belief that everything should now be evenly luminous. Many more landscapes are ruined by HDR than improved.
I did sharpen, and lighten quite a bit, the birds eyes, and otherwise left the exposure alone....
WT
I agree with your comment about over using some of the tools. I like to see many images.....just as they were. Otherwise images become boring. I like this one very much......the expression on the birds face is priceless.
Fishes-Eye View
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