American Avocet

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

D3 200f2 + TC17EII (340 mm) f/7.1 1/2500 Matrix -0.3EV ISO 800
Slightly warmer WB (Daylight 5400) Custom Raw Conversion Curve (Picture Control) - S curve for managed contrast n blacks and whites. Some additional hot spot work in a masked curves layer and a little masked curves bg lightening to set off beak. BG NR and sharpening.

Better approach shots were pancakes (sigh).

Thanks for looking, commenting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Dave Mills]

Hi Michael, I like this alot!! Sharp,good downward wing position,placement in the frame and backround just blurred enough. I might lighten the bird just a little which would show the detail more in the wing.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Michael Love the in flight pose, great wing position and all sharp !! Like the tech settings and only softer light would have made a better image.

From the PS side the image is dark and flat, just did a slight curves adjustments for lightening then increasing contrast Excellent image !!

[denise ippolito]

Michael, Beautiful flight shot and details. Alfred's repost makes this sing. Congrats!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice, got the Avocet sharp in flight and appealing wing position too, good exposure to maintain detail in whites. I like Al's repost with brighter BG, original BG was a bit dark. If your ethics allow, I would select the BG and run several runs of NR to smooth it for better bird versus BG separation. A tighter crop works too.

Well rounded shot, great!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Michael - nice flight position - the op was a little flat -AL'S repost addressed that very nicely.
As Arash mentioned a little NR on the BG would improve further.
Well done - like this a lot.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dave, Alfred, Denise, Arash, Lance,

Thank you all for the kind words. Alfred, thanks for the repost, I was fighting noise but see now from your repost that bringing the bg up some is better (and then adding NR, as suggested). Thanks!

Arash, I didn't have the reach but chicks (stilts, too) are out and about in the nesting area (over the bridge past the pond) at Baylands...

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Michael When the light is harsh and we have no choice but to under expose a bit to save the whites, noise will be bad even at lower ISOs !! So fart the best program I've seen is Noiseware pro (Recommended by David Thomasson). I was using Topaz but this is working much better !!!

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Thanks, Alfred for the explanation and recommendation... I've been using Neat Image Pro for a while now and am pretty happy with it (also have Topaz Denoise from a promo but don't like it much).

Cheers,

-Michael-

[arash_hazeghi]

Dave, Alfred, Denise, Arash, Lance,

Thank you all for the kind words. Alfred, thanks for the repost, I was fighting noise but see now from your repost that bringing the bg up some is better (and then adding NR, as suggested). Thanks!

Arash, I didn't have the reach but chicks (stilts, too) are out and about in the nesting area (over the bridge past the pond) at Baylands...

Cheers,

-Michael-

Thanks Mike,
I was there last week, saw the chicks, they are so cute and tiny!!! In a few weeks they will grow and start getting nice feathers!

BTW, in addition to what has been mentioned can also use NX2 for selective NR, works well.