Reddish Egret Eating

[Andrew Weber]

Galveston, Texas
Nikon D200; ISO 640; f9.0/1/320 sec
70-200mm f2.8 zoom with 1.4x

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Andrew and welcome. I have moved this image to ETL so that you could get some extra help. The bird in the image is a stunning Little Blue Heron in full breeding plumage. It is rare to see them with such a bright blue bill. (Reddish Egrest always have two-toned bills. Get yourself a copy of the National Geographic or Sibley Field Guides to help with IDs.) The postion of the bird's head and the crab in its bill are ideal and the COMP is excellent.

The image, however, has many problems. The grasses are very distracting, esp. those that overlap the bird with the one large one just in front of the eye and the two just behind that being the most problematic. Not much you could have done about it other than follow the bird to a clearer spot. There is a huge green/cyan color cast to the bird's blue plumage. There are several ways to correct color casts; all are covered in our Digital Basics file and in most good Photoshop how-to books. In this spefic case I would recomment learning how to select the bird only and then remove the color cast only from the selected area. It sounds tough at first but is easy with some study.

later and love, artie

[Alfred Forns]

Andrew This is one tough image to color balance for a couple of reasons

First this bird has a peculiar blue which is difficult to correct visually
Second you don't have a good area to judge color balancing

Normally to color balance we look at a neutral area The best usually is a light gray tone One the is pure light gray In birds (nature in general) is more difficult than photographing people Here you could try using the pupil which should be black You would balance colors until all three color channels show the same values

......or get a plug in for PhotoShop like iCorrect Color Lab All you do is find the neutral area Could be white grey black Place the dropper click and you will see your image change Will be balanced When you first get the plug in you will tend to use it more than in should Early morning late afternoon we get a beautiful warm light You apply the filter and it will be partially lost !!!

[Robert Amoruso]

Assuming you have it PSCS3 has a new feature called Variations. It is under Image>Adjustments. It only works on 8-bit images to first use Image>Mode>8 bits/channel to change mode and then Variations will be ungrayed and available to you. Allows you to color correct by sight using a circle of images with slight variations of color cast.

[Andrew Weber]

I appreciate all the great feedback. Much to learn!

[Arthur Morris]

RAM, you wrote, "Allows you to color correct by sight using a roseate of images with slight variations of color cast."

If there is no typo there please explain...

thanks and later and love, artie

[Jim Poor]

Here's the box:

You get to pick whatever version looks good to you. I think he might have been referring to the "rosetta stone" or a mosiac, but not sure.

[Robert Amoruso]

RAM, you wrote, "Allows you to color correct by sight using a roseate of images with slight variations of color cast."

If there is no typo there please explain...

thanks and later and love, artie

Not sure what I was thinking. 11:20 PM and I must have been tired and had spoonbills on my mind.

Thanks Jim for posting the image. Nice demo.