Black on Black and Blue

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 VR @ 195mm.
ISO 400; 1/2000s @ f/5.6
AP, AF-S, matrix metering -0.7EV
HH from a moving boat at Moss Landing.

Being from the Northeast I wasn't familiar with these Brant's Cormorants and was intrigued by the shades of black. I know this is a much-maligned rear angle view, but it shows off the lovely layered black feathers. The in-camera exposure adjustment had been set from a previous image and I neglected to change it as we cruised by this fellow. Had I done so I would have set it to neutral or perhaps positive (this is a crop of a shot with a lot more blue sky). But the histogram doesn't suggest that I clipped the blacks, so maybe -0.7 was OK? Given that there was no BG other than sky, I suspect a smaller aperture would have helped.

Comments appreciated.

Bill

[Gail Spitler]

Hi Bill - nice composition, good sharpness in the bird. Dramatic effect. I like it.
Just to see what would happen I increased the exposure and sharpened a bit more. Kind made me think that the original did suffer from not enough light. Brandt's do have quite a bit of turquoise on the back. I have posted the modifications so you can decide.
There is a glow around the bird and a bit of noise in the bg that is more evident in my re-post, but is also there in the original I think.
Hope it was okay to play with the image.
Cheers
Gail

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

I like the sharpening of the repost and the darker version of the original, so maybe somewhere in between. I don't mind about the rear view, you have a very nice clear blue eye and good HA. The details in the black are good too, looks like you have the light coming from good angle which help a lot. Sometimes when I have positive EV the beak get overexpose, not sure if that will happen here or not, but if I have to choose I prefer the details in the black feathers more.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bill

Exposure wise it does look a bit under and you might have lightened causing the halo around the bird. Best solution for this bird is fill flash. If you are going to lightened in PS do select the bird only !!

Gail did bring you the color but also lots of noise in the feathers and the blue bg looks sort of strange. Will give this a try when I get home with my calibrated monitor and see what I can come up with !! ... this is tough, one of those you need to get in camera with little room for error !!!

[Gail Spitler]

Al - I think I just increased the exposure, I don't think I did anything to the color per se.
Cheers
Gail

[Bill Dix]

I liked the blue sky from the original, and the way it comes close to matching the eye. Try this version: I slightly sharpened the bird only (I have been cautious of oversharpening after having done just that on several recent posts, so it might use a bit more); I slightly brightened the bird (+10), increased the saturation of cyan in the bird (+12), and used the "lighten shadows" command slightly (+3%). Let me know if this looks better.

I didn't get rid of the halo, since I didn't go back to the original RAW file. It is possible that I did brighten the whole image a bit in the original RAW conversion, which I guess could have caused the halo.

Thanks for the comments (and yes, Gail, you are always most welcome to offer alternate ideas).

Bill

[Lance Peters]

Good advice above - find all black birds the toughest of all.
Gails repost looks a bit funky on my screen - will be intresting to see what AL comes up with!!

[Gail Spitler]

Good advice above - find all black birds the toughest of all.
Gails repost looks a bit funky on my screen - will be intresting to see what AL comes up with!!

Couldn't agree more.
Gail

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Not sure about Gail's repost ??

Bill, I like the use of highlight/shadows tool to unblock darks not sure about color adjustments? Watch turning too many dials, the original was pretty good to start with.

[Gus Cobos]

Good advise given Bill, I like your second repost...well done...:cool:

[Kyle Marie Barcelos]

I like your re-post. I love the BG color, the eye is sharp and i think you did a good job with getting the detail on the feathers, black is hard, but IMO you nail it:D