Bathing Ruddy Turnstone

[Mike Milicia]

EOS-1D Mk III, 500mm f/4L + 1.4xII, 1/125, f/5/6, ISO 800
About 75% of Full Frame

Photographed a couple of weeks ago just as the sun was rising at Little Estero Lagoon.

Looking forward to your comments and critiques !

[Jim Poor]

Really interesting color cast to this one that sets a strong mood for sure. At first I thought it was too much, but it's growing on me. I really like the water drops, especially on the bill. I'd probably try to move the bird off center. A crop from top or bottom would be my first choice so as to keep as many of the ripples and such behind the bird as possible.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hey Mike,

I like the composition and low angle. There is something about the white balance that I don't like...... I would also add a little more sharpening!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Very interessting capture and the waterdroplets add a nice touch but I agree there is something a little unusual about the color of this image . Was there much post processing ? Really like the action you captured in this image and the clean BG Mike but would like to know about the coloring in this capture. Many thanks for sharing.

[Tony Whitehead]

This is an interesting image, Mike. The colour seems to overwhelm everything else though. Was this a unique light or is it in post-processing. I have tried to get a neutral white but it still looks a bit strange.

[Mike Milicia]

Thanks to all for the feedback !

The light is natural. The image was made 3 minutes after official sunrise.
The sun was just cresting the horizon and it was a bit hazy
which somehow made everything take on this "pinkish/orangish" glow for 5 minutes or so.
I tried to make the image as true to my memory of the situation as possible.
In this type of early morning light, the whites would not appear as "neutral".
They will definitely have a warm cast.

The only postprocessing was levels, curves, usm, and hue/saturation at +10.
I've attached the raw file immediately after conversion via ACR at 5750/+5.
Given the early morning light, these seemed like reasonable settings to me
and looked the most like my memory. I'd be very interested in hearing whether
you think these seem like reasonable color balance settings for a sunrise
image. If anything, I think the color is probably somewhat muted at these settings.

Looking forward to your comments !

[Tony Whitehead]

That is definitely interesting light, Mike. The best option is to go with what you remember as you were the one there when the shutter was pressed. I often find it difficult to decide between what I remember and what is more neutral. What colour temperature did you process the raw file at?

[Mike Milicia]

What colour temperature did you process the raw file at?

As in my post above, converted via ACR with Temperature set to 5750 and Tint at +5.