Needed a little PP help on this one, as it is a fairly large crop and harsh afternoon sun. These birds are small and hard to get close to!
The Salton Sea is a great place to see several species of grebes (95% of the population along the Pacific Flyway) - would love to have some bigger glass to do them justice. Maybe I'll rent one...
Trying out a new work flow, going from Adobe Bridge --> ACR --> CS4. Did some Lab color enhancement, Topaz Denoise, and sharpened with two passes of Nik Sharpener Pro, one capture sharpen and one output sharpen.
50D, EF400mm f/5.6L
Manual mode, f/5.6@1/4000 ISO 800 AWB
AI Servo autofocus using back button, HH no flash
Real pretty bird, Kerry (I'd crop a bit off the bottom, by the way). My eared grebes do not have "hairy heads." Do you run noise reduction selectively or on the entire image? Last night I watched Huell Howser's popular TV show, California Gold, which featured the town of Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea . . .
Thank you Wendell. I considered a tighter crop on the bottom but kinda like the reflected colors down there. I'm sure you're right though. For this image, I ran NR on the whole scene.
This is a breeding male, you may have only seen the non-breeding or female plumage.
Bombay Beach is an "interesting" place. The campground there has been closed for the last couple of years, which is too bad because it is a nice big campground right on the shore.
Hi Kerry - personally I wouldn't advise running NR on the whole scene unless you are then removing it from your bird afterwards - it is just going to loose you detail in your bird.
Did well considering the harsh light - still some bright spots, Ha looks good and love that eye and hairdo.
Would crop some from the bottom.
i like the pose, and the breeding plumage is a plus. you could clone in some detail where those specular highlights are. would help a lot. agree with the others. you did well with the harsh light.
Kerry, I wouldn't recommend running NR on the Grebe either as Lance has pointed out- You did well considering the harsh light and I agree w/ Harold that if you fixed some of those specular highlights it would add alot,Also I agree that you should consider toning down the eye a bit. Nice HA and pose.
Did well with the harsh light Kerry Agree with comments btw the Topaz seems to do less harm with sharpness than Noise Ninja !!! Good luck with the long glass !!!
Eared Grebe
