Great Egret Fishing

[Mital Patel]

Great Egret (Casmerodius albus)
Camera : Nikon D300
Lens : Nikkor 80-400D F-4.5/5.6 ED VR
Exposure : 1/5000sec @ 360mm
Aperture : f/8
ISO Rating : 400
Captured On : January 30 2009, 030 pm
Location : Thol Bird Sanctuary, Mehsana, Gujarat, INDIA

thought to correct the white point on bird but then i feel the little blue cast overall so kept.
dont know look good or not ..


Feel free to critique and post suggestions for improvements.

[Doug Brown]

Those jumping fish are pretty cool Mital! I would definitely correct the white point; the bird just doesn't look right with gray plumage.

[ChasMcRae]

Great action but the whites are not true as Doug says.
Did you get a series of images with the jumping fish or only this ?

[Mital Patel]

thanks doug and chales.
can anyone please guide me to correct white point ?
tried level and curves but gets disturb.

awaiting kind reply

[David Thomasson]

thanks doug and chales.
can anyone please guide me to correct white point ?
tried level and curves but gets disturb.

awaiting kind reply

In the levels dialog box, hold the alt key and pull in the highlight slider (on the right) and watch for the first pixels that begin to clip highlights.

Double-click the white dropper (in Levels) to get the color picker. Set the RGB values to 250.250.250, click OK, then click the dropper on the "hot spot." That will set white point there. You might also consider using shadows/highlights filter to brighten the details only in the water beneath the bird.

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice action. I love the jumping fish. I like the repost better, but think the whites could still go a bit brighter.

[Arthur Morris]

Mitalbhai,

Love the jumping fish and the COMP. Did you use flash on this one?

The posted image is way too dark. I would simply start over and reconvert. Are you using ACR?

This repost is lighter still but I am not impressed with it (which is why I suggested starting over....)

[David Thomasson]

Here's a brighter version using a different technique for setting white point.

[Arthur Morris]

Much better than mine. How???

[David Thomasson]

Much better than mine. How???

Thanks, Art. In CS4, after you find the "hot spot" in curves, use the new "click and drag" button at top left on each color channel separately to bring the RGB values up to 250.250.250. Then apply a black gradient on the mask to fade that effect across the top and bottom of the image. (Main difference: The white dropper moves the endpoint of the curve; but this method sets a control point inside the curve, which bends the curve and has a greater effect on midtones.)

[Mital Patel]

this is a fantastic changeover. i really liked what david did.
thanks david and arthur sir

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks DT for the beautiful tutorial. I only have CS-3. If I had CS-4, I would need some more lessons anyway.