This morning I watched this cormorant as it dried its wings -- stood motionless, no wing-flapping. I had never been able to photograph this pose before. The guy was in amongst other birds, so in order to avoid cloning I had to crop pretty heavily. Thanks to recent criticism I did remember to adjust EV. I like the way it turned out, except that the end of its beak fades away, out of focus, I guess. Would you recommend trying to reconstruct it? How is the image otherwise?
Hi Kerry - Love the wing drying pose and the +1EV has worked well for your details in the blacks - well done.
The head / bill area is looking a little soft to me - looks like motion blur - he has moved his head as you have taken the shot. Your shutter speed was 1/250th at 400MM - even with VR you are going to need a steady hand and 1/250 wont be enough to freeze the action.
As for recreating - one easy way to do it - do you have another shot of him were all is ok, maybe a different pose even - if so cut and paste the head/bill area from that one iito this shot and work from there. Don't do a lot of this myself - ethically dont have a problem wit it AS LONG as it is dsclosed as part of the PP work.
Thanks, Lance, I think you nailed it, "motion blur", I didn't even think of it. Yes, I have other poses where the beak is quite sharp. So, I will either replace it or use the other image entirely.
I would also try in next shots a vertical orientation wich would include the reflection of the duck in the water, so you can better avoid that background.... :-)
Drying Off
