Anhinga

[Dawn Currie]

Been so busy with Audubon outings, family commitments, etc, that I haven't been able to stop by BPN recently. But I have been putting all the great info I've learned here to use and have been getting more 'keepers' on each outing. This is my best to date of an Anhinga drying his wings, taken in early evening at the Viera Wetlands, Brevard County, FL. It really shows off his beautiful wings and his head is turned enough to see the eye and catch the light. I also liked the reflection on the left side that stops your eye from leaving the picture given the direction the bird is looking. The wing on the left is a bit 'hot', but burning and other approaches in PS just made the highlights look muddy.
Technical data: Canon EOS 450D, EF75-300 f/4-5.6 lens at 300mm zoom, ISO 400, 1/125 sec, f/13. Full frame width, cropped vertical to 8x10 proportion.

[Robert vanMierop]

That's a tough shot. The pipes at Viera (it looks like one of the pipes on the south side) put the afternoon sun this time of year at your back and directly on the bird's back. There is plenty of sun out at the time this shot was taken. Plus, there's tons of black and white on those birds, so you really challenged yourself. Considering all that, you did well, still getting some detail on the dark parts.

[Mike Wilhelm]

A nice clear image. I like the detail of the feathers. I wish some of the debris in the water could be removed. The green object looks like the bird is holding a spear in its right wing, a neat perception. If possible, he could use a little more head room, I think. Over all the bird itself is great. The fluffy feathers on the neck are sharp.

[Julie Kenward]

Dawn, open your image and check your histogram...you've got a big spike on the left side as your blacks are largely blocked (meaning there is little detail left). Now open a shadow/highlight adjustment and have a look at how it opens up the blacks so you can see more of the feather detail - especially on the middle back area.

It's a beautiful pose! I think a bit off the bottom and a bit more up top would balance the image a little better as well. You did very well considering the lighting and the black/whites of the bird but you do need to tweak those blacks and see if you can get them to open up some more.

Glad to have you back. I had wondered where you had gone to!

[Tom Redd]

Dawn, great pose here. The green stick/reed does look like a spear. At first glance, I think I would have cloned it out (if you are comfortable with that) but after Mike's comment about the spear, I kinda like it. I agree with Julie's comment on the blacks. As you know, a bird with both black and white is a challenge to get both exposed well. Good post, TFS

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Dawn. There is a major exposure problem in trying to take pictures of black and white birds in high contrast light , which occurs when direct sunlight is unfiltered by clouds.The camera sensor can not capture the full range of brightness (dynamic range). You will have loss of detail in both the darkest and lightest parts of the image. You can preserve one or the other, by exposing for the darks at the expense of the lights, and vise versa, but it is virtually impossible to preserve both. Trying a post-processing solution to lighten the darks doesn't work too well- you can make it lighter, but if detail was never recorded it won't magically show up. Not only that, but lightening dark parts of a digital image almost always results in the appearance of noise. Darkening the light parts, on the other hand, never results in digital noise, but there will still be no detail.

Contrast is defined as the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of an image. If the difference has been lowered by shooting when it is cloudy or overcast (which diffuses the light and reduces contrast) the sensor can capture the full range and you will get detail in both the lightest and darkest parts of the image. regards~Bill

[Sid Garige]

Canon EOS 450D, EF75-300 f/4-5.6 lens at 300mm zoom, ISO 400, 1/125 sec, f/13

Dawn,

Nice pose well captured.

1. What mode are your shooting in?
from your setting you used F13 aperture and you really dont need that much DOF for this image.

-Sid

[pat lillich]

Dawn, really beautiful pose - love the detail in the wings and tail. would love to see a repost with Julie's s/h suggestion and more room at the top.

[Dawn Currie]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I can't accept that its impossible to shoot in harsh sunlight - I live and shoot in central Florida, so it is the light condition I have to work with. On those few days we get clouds they usually are connected with strong winds and dangerous thunderstorms. I believe it is possible to work with strong sunlight and high-contrast subjects by controlling the exposure and fine tuning post processing techniques. I went back to the raw file and reprocessed the image. Additionally, using PS CS3, I adjusted the exposure for the shadows (primarily the gamma). Applied noise reduction to the BG and sharpened the bird, cloned out the debris in the water, and kept the 'spear'. Also moved the crop a bit as recommended. I believe I have a stronger image now thanks to all the help.

[Julie Kenward]

Dawn, I agree that you CAN shoot in strong sunlight but it will always be more problematic than shooting in early morning/late afternoon sunlight or on cloudy/overcast weather. I'd love to see the revised image if you can get it to come up.

[Dawn Currie]

Dawn, I agree that you CAN shoot in strong sunlight but it will always be more problematic than shooting in early morning/late afternoon sunlight or on cloudy/overcast weather. I'd love to see the revised image if you can get it to come up.

The revised image is showing on my post - not sure why you can't see it. This one was shot in late afternoon - according to my camera data 42 PM.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Dawn; I'm not saying you can't shoot in high contrast sunlight, but specifically with birds that have both very dark and very light plummage. It is virtually impossible to get exposure of of both correct. Believe me, I wish it weren't so! Nonetheless, sometimes other qualities of such images overcome exposure short comings. Also many people are not in the least concerned with blocked blacks and clipped highlights, or even know what they are! As a photographer it is good to know the limits though (IMO) and also be aware of the significance of light quality in producing the best image possible.
The anhinga is one of my favorite birds, and I have taken literally thousands of pictures of male anhingas, and I have yet to succesfully expose in high contrast light where both the black and white plummage was visible. Fortunately there are other birds that have more exposure manageable color schemes, including young and female anhingas, and shooting under high contrast light isn't so much a negative. There are two things that can be tied when there isn't a cloud to be seen. Shoot in shadows or have the subject comepletely backlit. In the later you will be exposing for the shadowed side of the bird (shadows are very low contrast), and you will blow the background and have a high-key image, which I personally love!
Certainly there are post-processing things that can be done, and lightenung the very dark plummage, and applying NR which will be required, can be tried. There will be a conspicuous lack of detail. My personal preference is to expose for the darks, sacrifice the highlights, and attempt to recover them in ACR. regards~Bill

[Steve Uffman]

I understand the harsh light concerns and the fact that you just have to deal with them. Over in Louisiana, we have the same and sometimes you just have to go when you can. I like the photo very much and my first glance at the "spear" was that it added interest. Anhingas are terrific fisherman and were historically used by fisherman in China. Not sure they trained them before to add a spear but bet they do now!