Mourning Dove

[Roger Williams]

We've had a pair of mourning doves around the house all winter. This was taken fairly late afternoon. I would have preferred a catch lite but I like the pose.

Canon 40D
Canon 300mm f/4L IS + 1.4x = 420mm
f/5.7
Gitzo tripod
Mongoose 3.5

Comments always welcomed.

roger

[Randy Stout]

Roger:

An attractive dove. If you could bring up the brightness of the bird a bit more, esp. the eye, I think that would help it compete with the bright background, esp. on the right. I like the look back pose, nice bill seperation from body. I like the angle of the tail, bill and perch, and the overall position of the bird in frame.

It would have been interesting to have the entire background like the left hand side.

And yes, a bit of fill flash would have helped on multiple fronts, catch light, brightening the bird to compete with the background, etc.

Thanks for posting.

Randy

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with Randy particularly on the a little fill flash, would have created a catchlight for making the eye appear alive !!!

I like how the tail looks with the whites is check. Excellent image !!

[John Chardine]

Roger- I really like the simplicity of the image, the lookback and perch. Very nice.

Here's what can be done with a bit of PP. Levels on whole bird to brighten, then selectively on eye to increase contrast, followed by a touch-up of highlights in eye with sharpening tool in Ps. Also boosted saturation a tad.

[Roger Williams]

Thanks for the comments. I like your improvements, John - brightened everything without changing the mood. I must practice more with PS.

roger