Black crowned Night heron
Curious if necessary to get rid of black wave behind head and how. image cropped some. taken in MA. use photoshop elements.
Sony A700 , Tamron 200-500 lens. Haven't posted in several years.
500mm
750mm (in 35mm film)
1/2000 sec, f/8
Mode: Av
Metering: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Hi Joan - the wave behind the head is not that bad - a little distracting perhaps - a fairly easy fix - some simple cloning using the clone tool will work - just enlarge the image and work slowly. Quick Masks will also work - check out the educational resources forum think there is some info in there.
Content aware will also work in PS5.
Would also clean up the white spots in the water - Much is made of head angles here and in this shot I think a bit of a head turn towards you even just a fraction would have improved this - as presented bird appears to be looking at something out of the frame which then gives the feeling that maybe it is cropped a little too tight - that fraction of a head turn would have provided the viewer with more connection to the bird and removed the feeling that it is cropped too tight ---- IMHO.
Removed the wave (REAL QUICK - NOT PERFECT) - Cloned out the white spots, selectively sharpened the bird a little more (A tad to much - but left that way so you can see at this size) and sharpened the eye a little.
Look any better??
I did almost the exact same things as Lance except I thought the color cast of the image was a bit to cyan. I added a blue photo filter adjustment at 25% and then lowered the opacity to 90% so the bird and water had a bit more depth to them.
I didn't clone the waves - I used the soft brush tool technique. Use the eye drop tool to get a sample of a blue area next to the darker one(usually a midtone) and then set the opacity of the brush to 15-45% (I used 45% in this case - very rare) to wash over the darker tones, making them blend in with the other surrounding tones. I did this across all the darker wave areas on the right side.
I forgot to add that this really needs a bit more room at the top of the frame. The bird feels like he's ducking his head in - with a bit more room up top you can alleviate this feeling and put his eye closer to the ROT's position.
Nice to see this species Joan. I like the reposts. Agree with Jules and Lance about the crop- to my taste subject is too tight in the frame. Some more room on top and to the right would be useful I think. The camera angle feels a little steep- usually it's best to try to be at eye level if possible- and it sometimes isn't possible. Also agree about head angle- a little CW rotation would be nice. Now you have started posting again we look forward to seeing more!!!!
What is CW? yes there is a "little" more room above and in front when I redo it. thanks for the helpful hints. re the color - it was an overcast cloudy day. so do I leave it that way or blue it up to make it look prettier?
Hi Joan. CW=clockwise. IMO cloudy overcast days are perfect for bird photography! Basically soft low contrast light makes proper exposure much much easier than bright sunny days. Indeed bright sunny days make light/dark color combinations, such as with our black-crowned night heron, exceedingly difficult to expose properly; you have the choice of getting the light parts exposed correctly or the dark parts correctly, but not both.
When working with low contrast light you generally need to increase contrast in post-processing, as well as increase saturation to bring colors out a bit more. regards~Bill
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