On Final Approach

[Rachel Hollander]

Another one from just after dawn at Ding Darling on Sanibel. The water was calm and almost glass-like,

Canon 7D
100-400 @ 180mm
1/1000
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from the shore, small crop to move off center, levels, s/h and sharpened in CS5. I also cleaned debris floating on the water and ran NR on the BG.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Sid Garige]

Rachel,
Is this a back lit image?

I like the composition and sujbect placement. Very well composed. Very nice pose with good wing spread.

-Sid

[Rachel Hollander]

Sid - thanks for the comments. I got to Ding Darling when it opened just after sunrise and this was one of the first images I took. The sun had just started to come up over the trees at my back and was probably still lower than the bird flying in so I think this is actually lit from below. There also might be some reflected light from the water that gives it a little bit of backlight.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Sid Garige]

Sid - thanks for the comments. I got to Ding Darling when it opened just after sunrise and this was one of the first images I took. The sun had just started to come up over the trees at my back and was probably still lower than the bird flying in so I think this is actually lit from below. There also might be some reflected light from the water that gives it a little bit of backlight.

Thanks,
Rachel

Yep. You are right. I was trying to find some reference shadow to understand the light. It is always hard working with multiple light sources.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Rachel, nice flight pose and placement in the frame. Dangling feet are always a bonus! Poses like this are tough when the far wing intersects with the head like that. Any from the series that has the head above the wing?

I'm seeing quite a bit of noise still in the image, especially in the bg but also on the bird. Might want to try another round of NR.

Very difficult lighting situation and I'm having a hard time figuring it out. There is strong light on the top of the bird and the neck, body, and right underwing areas are all in shadow. The absence of any light in the eye also makes me think that the sun was maybe behind you but to the left?

I am seeing halos around the legs, almost always caused by the shadows/highlights filter. That filter is very sensitive and it is wise to keep a close eye on what it does to your edges. You could clean these up in PS or go back to your raw image and try using levels adjustments instead of S/H.

Good technique on the flight capture! Keep on shooting and posting!

[Rachel Hollander]

Kerry - only got this one and I know the head intersecting isn't ideal. I went back to the RAW and did another conversion adding +.33 of exposure and then a levels and curve adjustment. Here's the result.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Kerry Perkins]

Looks much nicer to me Rachel! You have a nice high key look going with it now and the extra light looks good on the bird. Halos are gone and the image is much cleaner. Well done!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Kerry