Whimbrel

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Photographed at the Santa Ana River in Huntington Beach, CA.

Thanks in advance. Best, JR

Canon 1DMkIV (rented), 500F4IS, 1.4 TC, 700 mm, 1/1000, F7.1, ISO 400, Manual Exposure, Gitzo Tripod w/ Mongoose 3.5a

[Randy Stout]

Joerg:

Sharp, well exposed, nice head angle, really like the curved toes on the hind foot.
The color temp. looks a bit warm, but perhaps this was early or late in the day?

Very nice.

Cheers

Randy

[christopher galeski]

nice BG ,bird nice and sharp,good HA,love the raised back foot,nice shot,thanks.

[John Chardine]

I think this is a very fine image Joerg. What strikes me with the image is the warm, soft light (which I love) and the almost invisible detail in the foreground and background, which is so sympathetic to the subject. The pose, head angle et al. are perfect.

[Ofer Levy]

Hi Joerg, this is a fantastic image!!! Beautifully captured. However, I think it needed some more processing - hope you don't mind this repost - please let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Ofer

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

I much prefer Joerg's post. Presumably he chose this colour temperature because he liked it.
IMHO the repost has lost all the soft mood and feel of the original.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thank you all for the comments. It's difficult for me to evaluate the merits of Ofer's rework on its own as it doesn't describe the situation during capture at all. The Whimbrel was on and in front of a very smooth stretch of golden-yellow sand just as the sun started to break through some heavy overcast. So, it really blended into the background and the overall colors were rather monotone.

In ACR, I've assigned cloudy as White Balance which warmed the image up and increased the exposure, contrast and vibrance a bit. In PS, I adjusted the black point in Curves slightly and selectively sharpened the bird.

Attached is a version with daylight selected as White Balance in ACR. Probably, somewhere in between is the sweet spot. Curious what the feedback will be.

Thanks in advance. JR

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the walking pose, particularly the bend toe and eye contact. As for the color temperature, your repost looks pretty good on my monitor but I'm sure that you remember what it looked like.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thanks Axel. It was definitely closer to the original - on my monitor. :)

JR

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks Axel. It was definitely closer to the original - on my monitor. :)

JR

Then I would leave it it that way, great to know that you had this amazing light.

[Randy Stout]

Joerg:
Go with matches your memory of the scene. I did think the original quite warm, but, if thats what it looked like, so be it!:D

Randy

[Troy Lim]

Joerg,
I like your repost. You were the one that knew what it exactly looked like.
TFS.

[Arthur Morris]

Not having been there I would prefer something much closer to Ofer's repost. Sometimes our color brains can deceive us.... IAC, what I love about the image is the clean look and the absolutely perfect pure beach. And the position of the rear foot. Any beach clean-up?

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Not having been there I would prefer something much closer to Ofer's repost. Sometimes our color brains can deceive us....

Maybe it's due to different monitors/calibrations that folks perceive the original post as too warm. Then, my repost should be close to what I saw. In no way did the scene at that moment depict a dull gray sand beach with the Whimbrel's colors clearly standing out against the background as it appears to me in Ofer's repost.

IAC, what I love about the image is the clean look and the absolutely perfect pure beach. And the position of the rear foot. Any beach clean-up?

Thanks. No beach clean-up done. This was taken early morning (no dogs and/or people yet) where the river enters the Pacific Ocean. I guess this sandbar is flooded at high tide which cleans it up. Case in point: the day before I was crawling through the sand there in the afternoon and no traces were left the next morning.

EDIT: Just went back and checked the uncropped version. The crop eliminated some minor imperfections from the beach...

Hope that clarifies things. JR

[Fabs Forns]

I like the colors in your repost. Ofer's looks technical, by the numbers, not realistic or consistent with early morning's light.
No one has mentioned it needs some CW rotation.

[Arthur Morris]

Joerg, I am fine with your going with the light as you saw/remember it. As for the beach clean-up question, I was just curious (and was not at all being l accusatory). It is rare to see a beach that clean, even one recently exposed by the tide. There is one tiny speck lower right center that you might wish to remove, and the same for the light circle forward of the lower breast (if doing so fits with your personal ethics).

Good job by Fabs catching the need for a bit of CW rotation--the feet are the indicators. The more eyes the merrier.