Undercarriage down

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

A pair of Black Winged Stilts.

Captured on Canon 30D, with 70-200F4 L + 1.4X con (at 270mm) 1/1000 sec, F/6.3, ISO 200, Pattern Metering and Aperture Priority.

http://birdphotographers.net/forums/...1&d=1201842879

[John Cooper]

Good action Chris and I can see your aim was to retain the stilt's reflection, however this has placed the left hand bird a bit too close at the top for ideal composition. Was there more space at the top on the original capture?

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Thanks John how is this.

[Arthur Morris]

Way cool birds. I am a shorebird nut. This one is relatively sharp and I prefer the original COMP but this image has many problems: Blacks too dark, whites too hot. (Softer light would help with that.) Birds flying away. (Wind and sun from the same direction would help with that...) Mega-distracting BKGR. One tall grass stem. Two less than pleasing wing postions.

Later and love, artie

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Thanks Artie, I very much appreciate your advice, you are of course right. The sun was at my back and the wind into my face which also drives all the rubbish on the wetland toward me. As regards the light how could I compensate for the harsh light, do I back off the exp. comp?

Thanks again mate.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Chris, YAW. Exposure compensation has nothing to do with contrast, which is the result of the harsh light, esp. when working with black and white birds. The contrast is what the contrast is. First get the exposure correct by making sure that you have some data in the histogram box on the right. If the image is contrasty, you can, at times, reduce the contrast in Photoshop---a reverse S curve, a SH/H adjustment, a Selective Color adjustment, etc. As far as working with this image with regards to contrast and the harsh light, I think that your time would be better spent going out early or late in the day or on cloudy days... I do think that the contrast problems with this image are pretty much insurmountable.

later and love, artie

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Thanks again Artie some food for thought.:)