Lappet Faced Vulture

[Ken Watkins]

Taken in Deception Valley, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana, 4th March 2009

EOS 1D MkIII

500mm F4 IS hand-held

F6.3, 1/2000, ISO500, EV +1/3rd

[Tony Whitehead]

That's one impressive vulture, Ken. I like the feather textures and skin detail - the BG really conveys the feeling of heat haze. Some areas seem to be bordering on being hot - wondering whether the +1/3 was necessary. Using colour range to select the lighter areas and then applying a linear burn pulls some detail back into the termite mound, feet and front of face/bill as well as toning down some of the brighter areas in the BG. Not sure how this looks to you.

[Lance Peters]

Good work on the repost Tony - IMHO the background still looks a little bright maybe.
Good HA and pose and great detail throughout - Impressive looking Vulture - face only a mother could love :)

[Ken Watkins]

Tony,

Thanks the repost is much better, now if only I understood what you did, I might be able to repeat it.

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting Ken, and showing lovely feather detail. Tony did a great job regarding the burning, but I agree with Peter that I would maybe darken the BG.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Interesting-looking bird and good details. I would take the midtone slider to 0.76 or so and lighten the eye some more. You could also blur the BG some more. Maybe a bit more room on the right?

[Chris van Rooyen]

Nice portrait of this species, like the posture on the termite hill and the green background. Agree on slightly more mid-tone contrast

[Tony Whitehead]

Tony,

Thanks the repost is much better, now if only I understood what you did, I might be able to repeat it.

Ken, this link in Educational resources covers it
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=18298

[Ken Watkins]

Tony,

Thanks for the info, they are so many different ways of adjustment in PS, I am amazed that they are found.
The only problem I have with this is it is not easy to see what you have changed, it seems that you have to go back two steps. No doubt there is a solution.

[Tony Whitehead]

Tony,

Thanks for the info, they are so many different ways of adjustment in PS, I am amazed that they are found.
The only problem I have with this is it is not easy to see what you have changed, it seems that you have to go back two steps. No doubt there is a solution.

Ken, the selection that you are blending with linear burn is on a new layer - simply toggling the layer on and off (click the eye icon just to the left of the layer in the layers palette) reveals and conceals the effect. Hope this helps.

[Ken Watkins]

Tony,

Once again thanks very much, I think I need to go on a course!