Dunlin Preening

[Dave Blinder]

Barnegat Light State Park, NJ

This is the full frame. Should I have cropped from the left a little? I find that raising the contrast anymore blows out the whites too fast, so I didn't like raising the blacks or contrast any higher. All comments appreciated.



I don't have the exact exif in front of me, but can approximate...

Canon 7D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4tc, AV Mode, +2/3 EC
F/5.6, ISO 500, shutter 1/640s

Slight levels adjustment, low opacity layer of high pass sharpening over bird and rock, noise reduction on background only

[Tony Whitehead]

I think the comp is fine as presented, Dave. Little more room above and below may be worth considering if available. Pose is making the crick in my neck feel worse :(. It may be an option to darken down the bright area in the centre of the BG and a catchlight in the eye would have been nice.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Dave, I like the preening pose you managed to capture here. For me, with this particular pose, I agree with your thoughts of cropping some at left. As is the the comp would have been fine for a standard portarit with the bird looking towards our left. With experience you will learn to recognize times when taking verticals would be a better option. If you noticed that this individual assumed this pose often, then this would have been one of those times to turn the camera over IMO as I do find the bird looks cramped in the frame.

Techs look good, and I like the small rock perch. I agree a catchlight would ahve been nice.

[Joe Senzatimore]

My vote for a vert. and a catchlight. Image also seems a bit soft.

[Stu Bowie]

Dave, its always good to capture behavioural shots. I feel the whites look fine as is, so adding a bit more contrast, wouldnt have affected them too much. I would maybe selectively sharpen him a tad, and I too think a vertical would work here.

[Michael Lloyd]

I agree with shooting this one vertical (next time). You might give Shadows and Highlights a run to see if you can tone down the background and increase mid-tone contrast. Either that or a contrast mask.

[David Fletcher]

Don't mind the space on this one, as in the left Dave. Can see a vertical too, as an option. Agree a tad more room top and bottom may help. Agree some contrast and sharpening may boost too. Nicely done.

[Dave Blinder]

I think the comp is fine as presented, Dave. Little more room above and below may be worth considering if available. Pose is making the crick in my neck feel worse . It may be an option to darken down the bright area in the centre of the BG and a catchlight in the eye would have been nice.

Thanks very much Tony. I don't have any more shots of the rock underneath the bird to add canvas at the bottom... wish I did. I've never selectively toned down a part of the background and not entirely sure how to do that. Shadows/Highlights? There actually is a tiny natural catchlight there, but I agree it's a little lackluster.

Hi Dave, I like the preening pose you managed to capture here. For me, with this particular pose, I agree with your thoughts of cropping some at left. As is the the comp would have been fine for a standard portarit with the bird looking towards our left. With experience you will learn to recognize times when taking verticals would be a better option. If you noticed that this individual assumed this pose often, then this would have been one of those times to turn the camera over IMO as I do find the bird looks cramped in the frame.

Techs look good, and I like the small rock perch. I agree a catchlight would ahve been nice.

Thanks Daniel, vertical does look like a nice choice here. I usually do verticals too, but the bird wasn't preening for long.

My vote for a vert. and a catchlight. Image also seems a bit soft.

Hi Joe - When I first reviewed the image I thought this was misfocused or motion blurred in some way, but upon reviewing the original pixels of the head the fine detail was there. I think this may be a plumage issue, or even something to do with the JPEG conversion?

Dave, its always good to capture behavioural shots. I feel the whites look fine as is, so adding a bit more contrast, wouldnt have affected them too much. I would maybe selectively sharpen him a tad, and I too think a vertical would work here.

Stuart - I previewed some changes with a slider increase in contrast or by tweaking the levels, but wasn't satisified with the whites. If anyone cares to do a re-post, by all means, I'd be greatful. Thanks, looks like the head in particular should be sharpened more, right?

I agree with shooting this one vertical (next time). You might give Shadows and Highlights a run to see if you can tone down the background and increase mid-tone contrast. Either that or a contrast mask.

Thanks Michael - Looking at it a second time, I was thinking of maybe even just increasing the blacks a bit on separate background layer?

Don't mind the space on this one, as in the left Dave. Can see a vertical too, as an option. Agree a tad more room top and bottom may help. Agree some contrast and sharpening may boost too. Nicely done.

Thanks for checking in David, and appreciate the feedback.

Heading out to the field again soon, but maybe I can whip a re-post later on.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful preening pose,soft light