My friends were back in the park early this morning on my way to work. I used this opportunity to try my 2X (Sigma) TC which I almost never use because I was never happy with its IQ with my Sigma 100-300mm f/4. It seems to work better with my 400.
I tried, but couldn't get him to turn his head a little to the left to get better light on his right eye. It would have been nice if I had someone with me to walk that way and distract him.
Hi Ian - warm early morning light I like - pity the sun was not lined up at your back so that he was evenly illuminated.
Did you have your lens hood on?? Looks like the sidelight has robbed you of a little contrast - so a little boost in contrast might make it POP a little more.
Feels like it needs a little CCW rotation - feels like he is leaning to the right. Id be tempted to clone out the two branches either side of him.
Keep em coming :)
Thanks, Lance. Yeah -- I kept hoping he would turn his head about 45 degrees to the left, but he would only turn it rightward.
Yes, I always use the hood, but will play with contrast. I wonder if using the 2X also reared its ugly head with my contrast. Good point on those branches. I thought they framed him nicely, but the more I look, the less I like them.
Ian, it's not a perfect solution but it does help a bit...
Use the eyedropper tool to grab a 3x3 sample of the bright yellow in the right eye. Now go in close with a soft brush tool and use that bright yellow to paint over the other eye at about 30-35% opacity. Finally, use the wand tool to select the yellow in the left eye and use a curves adjustment layer to pull up the high tones until it matches the right eye.
I also used Viveza to cut the shadow on the left side of the face and that also helped but you still have that dark shadow running across his breast feathers. I'd also pull the saturation back on the yellows. I know it's a morning image but it feels very heavy in the yellow cast to me.
A Burrowing Owl morning
