Great Egret before sunrise at Anhinga Trail. I kept the EXP on the dark side because that's what it looked like then, even darker I'd say and if you looks at the settings, I couldn't squeeze more light out of the camera.
The noise of the underexp was dealt with Noiseware "night" settings. Natural fog was enhanced with Nik's graduated fog filter. If you have some amount of fog present, you can increase it using the conventional dodge tool in PS. Of course, for it to looks realistic, you have to have something to work from. This is nor about sharpness or feather detail, but about mood.
Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens (mm): 600
ISO: 2000
Aperture: 4
Shutter Speed: 1/80
Mode: Manual
Love the feel and the mood but do not love the branch and the leaf immediately behind the bird. See you next week!
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I really like the fog effect and think you have set the mood spot on. The pastels of the background are pretty but I think the one brighter spot above his head and to the left could be toned down a tad.
I agree with this type of image certain details can be overlooked. If this was tack sharp you would have in fact lost the mood you created. But I still don't think one ( not you) can throw the baby out with the bath water and overlook other details when creating image along these lines.
Although this looks fine for web presentation as is I don't think it would print well with the noise present particularly around his head. Since you were trying to create a soft mood you can probably run NR heavily on this and if anything it would set the mood even further.
Fab-ulous mood my friend. :) I like what you did, if I had to pick on you, I'd say the really, really bright patch of light above the heron draws my eyes away. But I am not a fuss pot really. So overall I love the comp and mood you convey. :)
I like what you've done here Fabs - I'm a big fan of moody fog images. My one comment is that the texture (noise?) in the background just below the beak draws my eye and takes away from the soft dreamy mood. Maybe try some selective blurring in this area?
Out of the fog
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