This morning I photographed this little guy, one of a brood of three. He came into this world only a few days ago and was already wading in the muddy marsh, busily sweeping the water and mud with his bill in a search for food. Here he pauses for a moment (to look at himself?).
Hi Wendell,
Those legs look totally out of proportion to the little fluffy body - always makes me laugh when I see them. I like the angle and the reflection - and the expanding rings in the water. There seems to be some colour noise in the background which you can probably treat on conversion from RAW.
Cute little guy! I like the feeding pose and inclusion of the reflection. The BG looks a bit noisy and I would remove the specular highlights on the reflection of the bill, too.
I like the subject and the rings of water. And the subject. There are however many problems. There was a red and yellow color cast. There are lots of hot pixels in the original post. Reducing the YELLOW SAT got rid of most of them. I selectively sharpened the bird for the repost and reduced the BKGR noise which was mega. :) In addition, the bird is angled away from you.
Best advice: 1- Get a copy of Digital Basics.
2- Ditch the monopod, sit down in the mud and handhold.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Gerald: Yes, Avocets'R'Us is appropriate. I recall our postings from long ago -- both avocets, and both beautiful, but very different looking varieties in the US and Belgium.
Axel: Thanks; you, Gerald and artie all agree about a serious noise problem.
artie: Really appreciate your taking time to re-work and re-post my image. Looks much better. I'll incorporate all of your suggestions. As for Digital Basics, I believe it is for Photoshop users only(?), and I have only Elements. I was sitting on a ledge about a foot above the water's surface . . . look out mud, here I come.
WW, YAW. I think that a good portion of DB is applicable to Elements. Find yourself a relative or friend who has a college ID and get yourself a copy of Photoshop!
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,