Dirt Bird #3

[Arthur Morris]

This Long-billed Curlew was photographed during my Lepp Institute course at Morro Bay, CA with the Canon 800mm f/5.6 lens and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 800. Evaluative Metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/250 sec. at f/5.6.

Used Robert O'Toole's color temperature trick by setting K 8000 in camera. (You can do the same during conversion.)

Don't be shy; all comments welcome. I am here to learn too.

[Rene Quenneville]

Beautiful pose and composition. I looks like you have pushed colors quite a bit. There is a strong halo around the black silhouette.

[Don Thompson]

Beautiful, I really like the colors. No critique but a couple of learning questions if I may. Why the +1 2/3? Would that deepen the silhouette?

[Art Kornienko]

I like the comp and the colours, makes the silhouette jump, but like Rene said I see a strong halo too. Not sure if I see a speck of dust right side 2/5ths of the way down.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the composition,light and colors!

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful, I really like the colors. No critique but a couple of learning questions if I may. Why the +1 2/3? Would that deepen the silhouette?

Hi Dan, +1 2/3s was used to push the histogram to the right. It actually lessens the SILH. A Levels adjustment boosts the color and accentuates the SILH effect. I drag the dark slider to the right while holding down the ALT key until the bird turns completely black.

As for the halo, I simply do not have time to individually prepare each JPEG so they are created with a generic action that on occasion causes a sharpening halo.