Stretching Pelican at Sanibel

[Muriel Bell]

Taken with 30D AV 400 ISO; 400 mm f8 l/3000 Minus l

Couldn't figure out what to do with foliage. Tried removing dark leaves but seemed to
make image unbalanced. Suggestions as well as other comments and criicisms please.

[George DeCamp]

Hi Muriel!

Looks like he was downing a nice meal when you made this image. Nice action you managed to capture.

The dark leaves are not the worst problem to have. You can lighten them a bit selectively using the masking techniques Robert has outlined. Create a duplicate layer and lighten it, after you lighten the whole image you would just paint the dark leaves on the original image and brig them up a bit. Cropping them out works also maybe not all of them just the ones on the right side of the image might help.

The big problem here is the upward angle you need to overcome which is even tougher because now the bird is pointing his beak even higher. Because of this I wonder if the image thing may look a little better cropped to a vertical with the bird a little to the left of center.

Just a couple thoughts for you to play with.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Muriel Can also to try for a better sun angle

Light is from your left creating a shadow on the right side of the bird Bad way to start When setting up keep track of your light angle, look for a good bg then wait for the pose you want !!!

[Muriel Bell]

Hi Muriel!

Looks like he was downing a nice meal when you made this image. Nice action you managed to capture.

The dark leaves are not the worst problem to have. You can lighten them a bit selectively using the masking techniques Robert has outlined. Create a duplicate layer and lighten it, after you lighten the whole image you would just paint the dark leaves on the original image and brig them up a bit. Cropping them out works also maybe not all of them just the ones on the right side of the image might help.

The big problem here is the upward angle you need to overcome which is even tougher because now the bird is pointing his beak even higher. Because of this I wonder if the image thing may look a little better cropped to a vertical with the bird a little to the left of center.

Just a couple thoughts for you to play with.

George - Thank you for the suggestion. I haven't yet tackled the method you suggest but this looks like a good time for me to try to learn it. I tried a quick vertical and like it a lot better.
Muriel

[Muriel Bell]

Hi Muriel Can also to try for a better sun angle

Light is from your left creating a shadow on the right side of the bird Bad way to start When setting up keep track of your light angle, look for a good bg then wait for the pose you want !!!

Hello Alfred. You've given me a lot of good ideas since I started posting - many thanks. Your last comment tells me how you get really good images - afraid my grab shots fall short although I found this a fun kind of image. Muriel

[Jodee Novak]

I can't get over how helpful this site is. I am learning new things every time I log on. Thank you everyone! I've only posted twice myself - still a little shy about that!

Alfred, I have a question. You mentioned waiting or looking for the right sun angle with regard to this image. Could you be a little more specific on that? What sun angle would be optimal? Sorry if that sounds like a very basic question...thanks for your patience on these beginner questions!