Yellow-Crowned Night Heron/ Crawfish II

[WIlliam Maroldo]

SonyA700~Sony70-400G@400mm~ISO1000~F5.6~1/1600 sec~manual exposure~Hand Held~6-5-2010~Brazos Bend State Park, Texas~CS4/Redfield Fractalius
comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Before Fractalius. Dennis, I know I shouldn't post 2 images, but I thought very occasionally it would be alright.:D
regards~Bill

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Bill. Excellent action capture and fract work, as always! For my eye I would like to see a darker edge or a bit more contrast, but I like the look you have here. There are tiny gaps near the end of the antennae of the crawfish that could be filled in. Very nice work!

[denise ippolito]

Before Fractalius. Denise, I know I shouldn't post 2 images, but I thought very occasionally it would be alright.:D
regards~Bill

It is alright as per the rules in the guidelines. For OOTB you are allowed to show us the original. I just prefer it not be for every post and you CLEARLY have not abused that:)

Now you have made me envious! I love YCNH's and this pose is fantastic. I do see a bit of a green cast? The details and the high-key BG along w/ the raised feet are wonderful. The crawfish puts this over the top for me. VERY nicely done.:)

[Christopher Miller]

Awesome pose, Bill, and the crawfish takes it over the top! I think just a little more contrast like Kerry suggested and correcting the green cast would make it perfect. :)

[Paul Lagasi]

Nice work as always Bill, I actually prefer the 2nd one, although I'd take both...TFS

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Appreciate the feedback!! Kerry, you are correct about the edges not being dark enough, and it was not my intent. Upon further investigation I found that I had inadvertently moved the saturation slider in Fractalius. Thanks for pointing this out.
The green tint; the background was duck weed, a big problem because everything has a green cast, even though I effectively blew out the background by overexposure. Dropping down green saturation in the HSL section of ACR is absolutely necessary, and helps alot, but has its drawbacks, like if you actually want green in the image.
One more thing. I think I need to reprocess the base image. I have noticed problems that have a negative impact on the final image. regards~Bill

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Great base image. Wonder if you could take out the cast. I would however take either image any day.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey William,
Huge fan of the 1st post.....try adding magenta in color balance or tweaking the green in selective color.....should do the trick and address all the concerns. Those tweaks will really make this shine!

[sandy richards]

Bill, nice original image with exceptional pose and great prey, and cool processing.
Minor nits already noted.
Like this a lot!
Sandy r