Hey you....get off of my limb!!!

[Harold Davis]

these guys were a treat to watch. they kept dive-bombing each other on the limbs and right over my head!!! should i boost the contrast in this? i cant tell which looks more natural. like this or with the boost. there's more detail as presented here.....i think:o

D300, Bigma at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/1250s, 0EV, ISO 800

comments and critiques welcome and appreciated.

[Alfred Forns]

Love that pose Harold !!! Excellent composition and behavior !!

Processing wise the dark feathers are not black .... more like dark gray and your not far from it Not sure how it got that look with zero EV? Would expect at least one over or more. Would increase a contrast a bit more.

I saw them doing this behavior after being harassed by the crows nesting next door !!!

[Harold Davis]

hi al, here's the straight out of the camera, unprocessed jpeg with the exif data attached. is at 0EV. it was VERY overcast.

thanks for the help.

[denise ippolito]

Harold, You did a really nice job pulling the details out of the feathers. Beautiful pose with the wings up. I like the B&W look -very appealing!! Great composition too!!

[Gus Cobos]

Now you know Doctor that I am partial to high-key images...This is a mighty fine composition, image and capture...I like the raised open wings showing all of the details...the natural perch is very nice...good show...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Not bad Harold My suggestions would be to let Mom the STK expert give it a try. She has been tweaking these things for almost a month !!! Will send pm !!!

[Fabs Forns]

It's washed out some.
I use Selective color and added black to the blacks and neutrals.
Then used Color Balance to add red against cyan and yellow against blue.

[Harold Davis]

thanks mom! i wasnt sure which way to go. i like your's best.

[Gus Cobos]

Super repost Miss Fabs, now the image pops...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

... really good !! Love the re post !!!

[Kerry Perkins]

Dr. D, really nice capture. The flat light of the overcast day didn't help you much here... As I was scrolling down through the thread I had an idea in my head of how I thought this should look. Then I saw Fabs' re-post and there it was! Great re-post Fabs! Thanks for sharing your changes also.

[Lance Peters]

Repost rocks - love the pose Harold - nice details in them there wings.

[Arthur Morris]

The whites in the original post and the subsequent reposts have a muddy noisy look as a result of being after lightened as needed because of the in the field underexposure (at zero....) Oftentimes it is hard to recover from less than ideal image captures. I believe that pushing the histogram as far right as possible at capture would have yielded cleaner whites.

I love the raised wings and the image design and wish for a better head angle.

[Harold Davis]

artie, the second post is straight out of the camera. no PP at all. you think that image is underexposed?

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Harold, The JPEG in pane 3 is not underexposed.

[Erich Stevens]

Hi Harold,

Did you photograph this bird up in your area? I'm asking cuz there's a swallow tailed kite nest not far from my house down in Davie, Broward County, that's become popular with the local birders and photographers. I haven't been able to get a good shot, myself. The nest is so high that the only shot anyone could get, short of renting a cherry picker, is a flight shot which is a huge challenge for me since my lens is mf.