Least Bittern at Viera. I loved the reflection more than the top. Too bad they don't make a split ND for a 500, but then how would you put it on? I lowered the exposure of the upper part of the image in pp as much as possible.
Good spotting, Susan. These guys are hard to find and don't stay visible for long. The reflection is very cool. I see you focused on it and not the bittern itself. I wish he was in focus along with the reflection.
This is an interesting image. It does a good job of showing how the location of the eyes allow the bird to hunt in the water. The whites and side of the head look a little bright to me.
I love photographing Least Bitterns...very nice catch. What I would do in this instance is use a gradient mask in Photoshop and apply it as an overlay. This would darken the top portion of the image. With your permission, I can post your image with the mask.
I did a couple of things here...I first used a gradient mask using Overlay instead of Normal. This blends the gradient mask in with the image -- very similar to the results of what you would expect with a gradient filter on a lens.
I then selected the bird itself (not the reflection) and toned down the highlights using the shadow/highlights command in PS.
I then added a bit more contrast to the reflection only and then adjusted the color a bit on the whole image. After using the gradient mask, it looked too green to me.
Anyhow, you get the idea. There's no special software required to do this (except Photoshop) and it's a quick fix.
Of course, what I did is subjective and you may or may not like the look...just my two cents for what it is worth.
Four Eyes
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