Roseate Spoonbill at pre-dawn; Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, USA

[Robert Amoruso]

Here is an image from the 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival that I created during one of the three field workshops I lead. This is what I call "white water". It is pre-dawn and you expose this by adding +2 to +3 stops of light to the exposure (+3 here). This places the whites high on the histogram as they should be. In Photoshop you have to normally expand the dynamic range in the shadows and that corrects for the low-contrast look. In RAW, you expose for the highlights and process for the shadows.

During the workshop I created this on, most of the participants that I helped create the same image where thrilled to have gotten it saying in the past the images they created looked dark and dingy. They were not adjusting for the fact the camera wants to make this a middle gray image.

Canon 1D Mark III with Canon 600mm f/4 IS + 1.4x TC II
1/80 sec, f/5.6, Mode: Av, Metering: Evaluative, Exp comp: +3
ISO: 800, Flash: Off

[Randy Stout]

Robert:

Handsome bird, nice angle,striking white water look.

Only thing to make it better would have been stiller water for a smoother reflection.

Thanks for the discussion of how the image was created, very useful info!

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

Sweet image Robert.

Actually I like the ripples in the reflection, agreed if it was still then you would have an almost mirrored image, but personally, I like the contrast between the two.

TFS
Steve

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Very nice bird and capture. Thanks for sharing the techs. I also like the ripples/reflection, maybe because the surounding water is so smooth and bright. A perfect mirror reflection would have been also very nice, but a different kind of image in my view. Well...this is just an opinion....
I like the image a lot!

[Hazel Grant]

I vote for the ripples, too. Thanks for the details re the exposure.

[Levina de Ruijter]

I'm taking notes here! Ripples or no ripples: a beautiful image.

[Robert Amoruso]

Thanks all. The reflection is always problematic if not "perfect". I chose this one form multiple images as the head and especially the eye are pretty good.

If I crop the reflection out and was to show this in my workshop, I always get the question; what about the rest of the reflection? So it is interesting to see the responses here. Thank you.

[Grace Scalzo]

Ah, Robert. I love this, such a sweet, pastel feeling to it. The shimmery reflection adds another nice element and to me avoids the sterile feeling that one sometimes gets with images like this. You are such a good teacher.

[Randy Stout]

Robert:

I would have left this reflection in as well, was only giving my 'perfect world' preference for a smoother one!

Cheers

Randy

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Robert, superb image, and thanks for sharing the setup behind it..
cheers
Grant

[Robert Amoruso]

Robert:

I would have left this reflection in as well, was only giving my 'perfect world' preference for a smoother one!

Cheers

Randy

Randy,

Thanks for your thoughts. I value your and everyone's comments in particular about the reflection as I evaluate my own feelings on leave it in or crop it out.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Robert, I like the ripples here...gives a unique look. Thx for the lesson.

[Nico Steenberg]

Great sharp detail and IQ. Like the pose and comp. Subject is well exposed with good natural colours against a killer bg. Well done !

[Bill Dix]

Great lesson in exposure, and beautiful image. Wish I had that dilemma, whether or not to keep the reflection here. Personally, although its not perfect, it looks better with than without when I try a 'browser crop'. Thanks for sharing.

[Todd Frost]

Nice image Robert. Agree with leaving the reflection in. Well done on the exposure.
TFS
Todd

[Richard Dubiel]

Spectacular capture Robert as is - reflection adds to the image.

[James Salywoda]

Beautiful Shot I love the soft light and detail.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice exposure, I like the ripples too.

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Absolutely brilliant image with those colours. My first impression was that the image need to be rotated clock wise seen on the waves and pose of the bird (not balanced).

Best, Szimi