Red-necked Stints (Calidris ruficollis)

[Mark Young]

Taken about 2 weeks ago.

400D, 70-300mm, ISO400, F/10, 1/500, tripod. Taken early am with the sun behind me.
PP using PSE 7.0: Cropped approx 40%. Shadows, Levels, Curves adjusted. NR on bg. USM, clone slight rock in fg. CCR 1*

Self critique; In the original the whites were a bit washed out, so I've tried to get some detail back into the birds.
In RAW I pulled the exposure back a little. In PSE I did try doing a seperate curves adjust and a hue/sat adjust on seperate layers before I adjusted the shadows, curves and levels to get a touch more detail through the whites, but to me the image still appears a little washed out.

A JPEG of the original RAW image if needed can be seen here.

All c&c welcome

[Lance Peters]

Hi Mark - does not look washed out on my screen.
Three good HA'S - to be picky the one on the far right a little more head turn would have given some separation between the beak and the body.
Think I would crop the reflection out entirely - not really strong enough to warrant its inclusion.
Techs look solid and like the low shooting angle.
Keep em coming :)

[Mark Young]

Thanks for the tip Lance.

I have a series of these guys in various positions, that has the right most bird with a much better head turn. I might have another look at this image for editing too.

Stupid question, but what is a HA?

Repost with the reflections removed, and head shot from the next image in this series added over the top of the bird on the right.

[Lance Peters]

HA = Head Angle - for a good tutorial see this ...http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ead.php?t=7781

IMHO - the little bit of separation between the beak and the body just makes it better - more clearly defined and the viewers brain is not trying to work out were it is - if that makes any sense.
Id be inclined to crop a little off the bottom.
Good show :)

[Mark Young]

Thanks Lance. I see what you mean about the HA. Only being new to photography, I'm learning that it's the attention to these very small details that make a huge difference. And learning what those small details are is a huge task.

[Lance Peters]

Thanks Lance. I see what you mean about the HA. Only being new to photography, I'm learning that it's the attention to these very small details that make a huge difference. And learning what those small details are is a huge task.

Best way to learn Mark is to jump right in and comment on other peoples photo's as much as you can - there is a thread in the educational resources forum on the art of critique - gives some help in what to look for.
Always here to help as well!!!

[Mark Young]

Thanks for the tip. I'll go have a look for it.

[Julie Kenward]

I opened the image up in Nik's Viveza and used a control point on the brightest whites to bring them down a little bit more, also softening the contrast a bit. I then opened up levels in CS4 and hit "auto" and that seemed to give a little more depth to the image - both helped calm down those bright whites a bit more.

Also, I noticed you are uploading your images at 240 resolution with a smaller size. Try saving your images at a larger size (say 8-10" on the long side) and a resolution of 72 (ideal size for web browsing) and see what you think. There are sizing tutorials around the forums and in the educational section as well!

I agree with Lance that you got a great angle! I feel like I am listening in on their conversation!

[Mark Young]

Thanks for the help Jules. I'll have a look at the resolution for the next one. I wasn't even aware of what it was.

[Harold Davis]

there is nothing more that i can add that lance and jules havent already said. a ton of great info!! welcome to BPN. keep them coming!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Welcome and look over the Ed Forum for other helpful tips. Noticed your aperture could have been wider (e.g. f/8/0) to support a fasted shutter speed to get the fine detail - keep em coming.

Changing/swapping the aperture and shutter speed is called "Equivalent Exposure" and there is a chart in the Ed Forum you can review as well.

[Mark Young]

there is nothing more that i can add that lance and jules havent already said. a ton of great info!! welcome to BPN. keep them coming!!

Thanks Harold, I'm learning so much I'm finding that I need to pace myself and try to concentrate on just one or a few points at at time! :D

I opened the image up in Nik's Viveza and used a control point on the brightest whites to bring them down a little bit more, also softening the contrast a bit. I then opened up levels in CS4 and hit "auto" and that seemed to give a little more depth to the image - both helped calm down those bright whites a bit more.

Also, I noticed you are uploading your images at 240 resolution with a smaller size. Try saving your images at a larger size (say 8-10" on the long side) and a resolution of 72 (ideal size for web browsing) and see what you think. There are sizing tutorials around the forums and in the educational section as well!

I agree with Lance that you got a great angle! I feel like I am listening in on their conversation!

I tried looking for the tutorial that explianed this, but I couldnt' find it. I did an advance search in the Educational and Resources forum on the words 'size : sizing', but couldn't find the threads.

Would you have a link to this thread as I'ld like to check it out?

Welcome and look over the Ed Forum for other helpful tips. Noticed your aperture could have been wider (e.g. f/8/0) to support a fasted shutter speed to get the fine detail - keep em coming.

Changing/swapping the aperture and shutter speed is called "Equivalent Exposure" and there is a chart in the Ed Forum you can review as well.

Thanks Jeff, I can't find the chart, but I've found plenty of other good stuff on exposure.

edit: Found it!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hi Mark

I don't mind the reflections at all. Your crop works well. You could also use two different raw files (one exposed for whites and the other for the rest of the scene) then combine them into an HDR image or just on two layers and mask areas you don't want to show. I don't normally do that, so you need to check whether you put the lighter image on top of the darker one or the other way around.

Just a tip with the clone tool, don't get too romantic with it. My thoughts on your repost are that it looks like a typical avian image. That is squeaky clean and clinically so. Just a thought and of course it being your image you can do and apply what you want to it. :) Just won't make you a better photographer. In the instance of reflections, if you are not in favor of this particular one, try and compose in the camera so that you don't have to spend time later in photoshop correcting the aesthetics. :) I agree about the HA on the RHS bird, but at times they will not all cooperate.

[Mark Young]

Hi Mark

I don't mind the reflections at all. Your crop works well. You could also use two different raw files (one exposed for whites and the other for the rest of the scene) then combine them into an HDR image or just on two layers and mask areas you don't want to show. I don't normally do that, so you need to check whether you put the lighter image on top of the darker one or the other way around.

Thanks for the tips Akos. I'm using PSE 7.0, so I'm not sure if I can, or even how to, combine multiple RAW files. Would the quality be discernably better than working within PSE and using multiple layers?
Speaking of layers, I've been editing my latest pictures in mulitple layer masks. Something that was suggested by Dan Brown in my first post of the Dotterel. Unfortunately PSE doesn't allow me to create and edit layers in RAW.

Just a tip with the clone tool, don't get too romantic with it.

It's just a summer fling, it was never meant to last. ;)

Just a thought and of course it being your image you can do and apply what you want to it. :) Just won't make you a better photographer. In the instance of reflections, if you are not in favor of this particular one, try and compose in the camera so that you don't have to spend time later in photoshop correcting the aesthetics. :) I agree about the HA on the RHS bird, but at times they will not all cooperate.

I see your point. And I agree, I think I also need to bring my photographic technique up to speed.

I was thinking on this last night. I've noticed that there are quite a lot of shots taken from hides etc, where the photographer can take their time with their exposure/composition etc and pre-set some of their settings in anticipation of the bird, so that when it does arrive, there is less guess work. And that cant be done so easily with shorebirds like these birds that tend to move around quite a lot. And sometimes you barely only have seconds to get the shot with your current setting before the bird moves out of favourable light, or view or whatever.

I think what I need to do is to go to Manly Dam and practice better photographic technique on the less mobile ducks, coots and grebes.