Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage. Taken in May of this year.
Nikon d300
200-400 f/4 @ 280mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/200
ACR & CS5: selective sharpening, levels. Minor crop for composition.
Comments & Suggestions appreciated!
Tricolored Heron
Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage. Taken in May of this year.
Nikon d300
200-400 f/4 @ 280mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/200
ACR & CS5: selective sharpening, levels. Minor crop for composition.
Comments & Suggestions appreciated!
That is an awesome image. Great pastel colors, like the flow and color of the feathers on the neck. Kind of reminds me of some asian paintings of herons I've seen. The curve of the branch helps with the compostion as well. I was thinking maybe a little more pop to the bird by adding a bit to the blacks and neutrals with selective color layer, but maybe softer is better for overall comp and feel.
Maureen, this is a very strong image compositionally! Nice work! The position of the heron and the flow of the vine through the image are both very good. I feel the exposure is a little light, though - I also see a need for a little more contrast or the addition of some blacks into the image. Either that or I'd go high key and take it up even further - your choice. As it stands here it feels just a little bit washed out and not as vibrant as I'd expect the scene to be.
Terrific image Maureen,
On my monitor it does seem a tad bright/washed - I wonder if as Brendan says, increasing contrasting a bit might give it a "pop".
I know removing twigs, etc., from images is frowned on by some and sometimes impossible to achieve well by all - have you tried to remove the two vertical stalks on the bottom right. If that was possible, you would have an absolutely superb image of a Tricolored Heron.
Kind regards
Richard
Great pose and fantastic perch. Also great detail and sharpness. I agree the bird looks a little washed out and think a contrast boost in the bird would help. I did a QUICK boost on the bird in curves.
Peter
Wow - that's made a difference!
Maureen, he is beautiful! I like Peter's repost - would like to see what happens if you do a curves in LAB too -- wonder if the sky would be a bit more blue against that wonderful yellow breast...
Thanks all for the comments. I will see about reworking the image to add a little more "pop."
Pat just a FYI, the tricolored heron's belly is white, not yellow.
But your heron's look yellow, too, on my monitor.Originally Posted by Maureen Allen
I also would think the contrast could be improved but not as much as the re-post though. A good image nonetheless.
Yes, it did Desmond.
I agree on the contrast and will work on that.
Maureen; very nice image. Details, DOF, pose, BG, all great, and the curved limb compositionally excellent.
It looks like you took advantage of what I consider perfect lighting conditions.
Nice soft low contrast light; no distracting shadows and very even lighting. Two things generally need to be tweaked here; increasing contrast a bit and a slight saturation boost. In any case I believe most adjustments are best done in ACR itself.
The white chest feathers are "greenish" probably from leaves that were in the foreground. You could select that area in PS, I usually use the color range command, and use desaturate or something to shift from the green. regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 12-28-2010 at 09:24 PM.
:o hey Maureen - you wouldn't believe how yellow they look on my monitor for some reason! (sure glad they look yellow for Desmond too or I would be redoing the monitor calibration immediately!)
look forward to seeing your repost - its a great image.
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