Spoonbill in the rain

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 VR @ 360mm. ISO 1600. f/7.1 @ 1/4000. Matrix metering @ -1.7 EV. HH. Cropped from vertical, and a bit off the top.

This was taken in the rain at Ding Darling, the day before Thanksgiving. A spoonie was high on my wish list for my trip to Sanibel, but this was the only time I got close enough to one for my lens. Conditions were poor, I underexposed it (corrected in RAW transfer), and had too high an ISO. So this is lacking in image quality. But being the best spoonie I got, I figured I'd post it. Have to go back next year. C&C appreciated. I hope everyone in the BPN family has a wonderful Christmas holiday.

[Gus Cobos]

Sweet image and capture Bill, I like the high key...you have good details and the perch compliments your subject quite well. Would only suggest selective sharpening the eye just a little...congrats, I like it...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year my friend...:):cool:

[Desmond Chan]

I underexposed it (corrected in RAW transfer), and had too high an ISO. So this is lacking in image quality.

I don't think I understand what you're talking about by "lacking in image quality". It'd be greatly appreciated if you can elaborate a bit, and point out what is lacking there. Thank you in advance :)

If you saw any noise, it may every well be caused by your under-exposure rather than the ISO 1600. My understanding is D90 is pretty good on the high ISO department, better than D300 from what I've read.

Overall, I personally like this image. Perhaps a bit more sharpening on the eye. A big bird on a perch in a white background reminds me of some Chinese painting. Whatever you had to do to "salvage" it, good job !!

Merry Christmas to you, too, Bill !!!

[Bill Dix]

I don't think I understand what you're talking about by "lacking in image quality". It'd be greatly appreciated if you can elaborate a bit, and point out what is lacking there. Thank you in advance :)

If you saw any noise, it may every well be caused by your under-exposure rather than the ISO 1600. My understanding is D90 is pretty good on the high ISO department, better than D300 from what I've read.

Overall, I personally like this image. Perhaps a bit more sharpening on the eye. A big bird on a perch in a white background reminds me of some Chinese painting. Whatever you had to do to "salvage" it, good job !!

Merry Christmas to you, too, Bill !!!

Thanks Desmond. I just felt that ideally there might have been more sharp detail in the feathers and the eye. It was not that large a crop, and I certainly had more than enough SS. The D90 does very well at ISO 800. At 1600 in dark areas it tends to show some noise. I think the roseate color is a bit noisy but I was afraid to run NR for fear of losing more detail. (I did run a pass of Topaz DeJPEG on a layer at about 30% opacity.) The histogram out of the camera was way to the left (the camera and I were under an old plastic raincoat where I couldn't check the histogram and reshoot before the bird flew away), so I increased the exposure and added fill light in RAW capture, probably resulting in some noise and loss of detail, but I've got a lot to learn here. Thanks for commenting.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Bill - do see a bit of noise in the reds and a lack of detail - probably due to the underexposure and the noise reduction.
The high shooting angle is my main issue - sometimes you gotta take what you can get though.
Love the high key.
Merry Christmas :)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Nice one Bill, like Lance said, the steep angle is the main issue IMO.

With a bright/whiteish BG and a light/bright bird the EV could be more like +1.5/2.0 - IMO. In Digital Basics, Artie has an example of a white/light (Egret) on a white BG and he added +2.33. I know they are different ,but the take away might be to add more light on this type of scene. Not being there maybe the weather was cloudy and more grayish than white? As you know, making adjustments to move info to the right causes noise and underexposed shots can lack detail due to the shortage of light.

Anyway, the picture is nice and I love the composition, hope this helps and Happy Holidays.

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill - do see a bit of noise in the reds and a lack of detail - probably due to the underexposure and the noise reduction.
The high shooting angle is my main issue - sometimes you gotta take what you can get though.
Love the high key.
Merry Christmas :)

Thanks Lance. I agree the angle is really steep. Couldn't talk him down to a lower branch. I'll plan to go back next year for a better shot.

[Bill Dix]

Nice one Bill, like Lance said, the steep angle is the main issue IMO.

With a bright/whiteish BG and a light/bright bird the EV could be more like +1.5/2.0 - IMO. In Digital Basics, Artie has an example of a white/light (Egret) on a white BG and he added +2.33. I know they are different ,but the take away might be to add more light on this type of scene. Not being there maybe the weather was cloudy and more grayish than white? As you know, making adjustments to move info to the right causes noise and underexposed shots can lack detail due to the shortage of light.

Anyway, the picture is nice and I love the composition, hope this helps and Happy Holidays.

Jeff, I agree with everything you say. The problem (or at least one of them) was that I didn't analyze the shot before I stepped out of the car into the rain. The sky was grey and only looks white because I pushed it in RAW capture, but if I had bothered to analyze the shot and adjust rather than keeping the settings as they had been for the previous situation, I might have captured a bit more of the detail. Thanks for the comments.

[Alfred Forns]

Great thread and lots of good points !!!

With these type images remember the bg will be all blown out with a perfect exposure, you are only worrying abou the bird !!! Looks good !!!

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Love the pose and the white background helps make this beautiful bird standout. Good discussion regarding the exposure above. Wish I have an opportunity to take spoonbill picture too. Have a wonderful Christmas holiday to you too.