Yellow-billed Stork

[Morkel Erasmus]

On our recent trip to the Kruger Park in December '09 we spent one evening on a low-water bridge over the Shingwedzi river just behind the Shingwedzi rest camp. It was very amusing to watch the waterfowl patrol the low-water bridge for fish as the river was flowing strongly over the bridge. The crocodiles also waited their turn on the other side of the bridge.

The entire day was cloudy and gloomy and the sun just peeked through the overcast clouds as it started to dwindle over the horizon. The reflections in the water were stunning. Both me and my wife were taking pictures here, and in fact I believe she shot this one as I was handling my loaned Nikon system at the time. This bird was pretty much next to the car on the bridge, and didn't even pay us much attention.

I did a lot of processing on this one to enhance the strong points. I created a normal masked blend with a multiplied BG, and then ran another set of generated exposures through Photomatix to create an HDR to enhance the dynamic range. Then I blended both these versions together in CS3 and enhanced with various tweaks and adjustments.

I would love to have your thoughts on this one. I have many shots of this encounter from both the Canon and Nikon cameras and will need to browse through them some more - this was the first one I pulled in at random from the folder.

This version lacks some finite sharpness but noise gets enhanced when I selectively sharpen the bird thus I will rework it from the large file - it's just a load of processing and would first like to get some feedback before I venture into it again :)

Techs:
Canon 1000D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 100mm
f4.5 @ 1/200 SS @ ISO-800

[arash_hazeghi]

Well captured colors and expression well BG is nice too, it looks like the focus was missed though. TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Arash! that's what I thought upon looking closely again now.

I was actually sitting showing Callie de Wet some workflow steps and we ran this one through the many processes described.

I like the feel and will definitely do this again on one with better focus.

[Arthur Morris]

Not sure what the problem is but this one is funky weird.... Possible due to over-processing. The bird looks soft and over-SATURATED at best....

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I see a lot of noise throughout the image. I think it's not easy to create a good image of a bird in shade against a lit BG. Keep at it bro! :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Artie & Akos.

like I said above - the focus was off on this one but I actually want some feedback on the processing itself. here is one where the saturation on the bird less, but as also said I will go and rework entirely with a sharper shot, just want to test the waters regarding the 'look and feel'.

[Arthur Morris]

I think it's not easy to create a good image of a bird in shade against a lit BG. :)

Disagree. Subject in shade, BKGR in sun is one of my favorite situations with or without flash. All you need to do is push the histogram as far to the right as possible without clipping the BKGR detail (just as you would do with 99.9% of digital images :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

agree Artie - I love shooting like that too.
most of these shots were taken by my wife and I just let her shoot away as I was busy with the crocodiles on the LHS of the vehicle. darnit! busy going through the files to see if there's a sharper one that I can rework...

[Callie de Wet]

Morkel - nice affect, that is what you were after. Looking at an angle at it, I too, missed the sharpness .

[Dan Busby]

I really like the shot Morkel. If sharpness was there this would be an outstanding photo.

[Tony Whitehead]

This looks like a great opportunity for some fill flash to bring in detail on the bird against that lovely BG. The red of the face looks too dark and should be the main area of focus. The HDR effect on the white feathers looks strange to me - I think it is just accentuating the fact that they were very under-exposed. The softness is detracting from what could be good.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey mate, you certainly captured a super pose, and apart from the softness, what about increasing a bit of sat on the BG. That should enhance the overall feel to this. Cheers.

[Vida van der Walt]

Hi Morkel, I can't help with PP suggestions but I really like the repost. There is a great mood to this image and I love the bg. If you have the sharpness to match this will be an awesome image.:)

[Mark Dumbleton]

I see what you are trying to achieve here Morkel. To be honest, I dont like the softish halo's around the bird. Its not from the sharpening but from the HDR processing.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the comments everyone.

Mark - yeah I wasn't as thorough as I usually am just because I wanted to see what the potential outcome would be. :o