Anhinga Decked Out

[Michael Pancier]

Shot yesterday morning at Anhinga Trail while my car was being eaten by vultures.

40d + 500 + 1.4x
f/5.6
1/400
ISO 400
Full Frame

[Randy Stout]

Michael:

Very dramatic lighting, handsome bird with good colors, good framing.

To my eye, the focus appears to be on the brown feathers closest to us, and not on eye. I might suggest some selective sharpening to try and bring the eye up a bit.

I think the background is overall very complimentary, but would darken the brighter spot in front of the neck just a bit so it doesn't compete with the bird as much.

Thanks for sharing this handsome bird.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Wonderful head angle and soft light. Randy is right-on above with most of his advice above but with eyes like this one, it is much better to darken and de-SAT the pupil using Hue-SAT.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

I didn't want to make the eye brighter, just sharper. My choice of wording was the problem. I mentioned sharpening, and then said bringing the eye up a bit ( I meant sharper!)

Heck of an image.

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Artie: I didn't want to make the eye brighter, just sharper. My choice of wording was the problem. I mentioned sharpening, and then said bringing the eye up a bit ( I meant sharper!) Heck of an image. Randy

You originally wrote: "I might suggest some selective sharpening to try and bring the eye up a bit."

Though your statement is ambiguous at best, it seemed that you wanted the eye sharpened. If not, what does "bring the eye up a bit" mean?

IAC, the trick with 90% of the eyes is to darken the puil to give the impression of it being sharper. With this image I de-SATed the eye and then used the Lightness slider in Hue SAT to darken it. Just as we showed you on the IPT and just as is described in Digital Basics. :) :) :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the composition, details and eye contact. Adding to the suggestions, I would be tempted to remove the brighter part of the BG underneath the bill.

[Mike Lentz]

Sweet sweet light and comp. I might clone the white blotchy area in front of the chest with some of that nice green BG.

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely pose, and what a hairdo. Excellent detail, and agree the lighter area beneath the bill is a bit distracting.

[Alex Mody]

Totally decked out. Love it! The vultures got me too...