Male Anhinga High-Key?

[WIlliam Maroldo]

SonyA850~Sony70-400G@400mm~ISO1600~1/640sec~F7.1~manual exposure~overcast~HH~5-2-2011~Brazos Bend State Park, Texas~CS5
Although the lighting conditions were perfect for high-key photography, there were no shadows and the background easy to blow out, the fact that the subject was very dark made classical high-key, with everything low contrast and in lighter tones, impossible. So this image isn't high-key in the strictest sense. However the very light background with no distractions, one of the big advantages of high-key, is present. Comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Brendan Dozier]

Great looking bird and pose, Bill. I think you did a great job getting the high-key look while managing to preserve the details of such a dark subject. Nice work!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Bill, as you say - hard to really classify this as high key as it is more like "high contrast nicely moderated". I really like the detail you got in the black plumage against the bright white background. You gotta love those feet! This bird certainly was putting on the pose for you! Good one.

[Ray Rozema]

Great pose and detail How about darkening the perch just a little and maybe even the bill ever so slightly unless that is the actual color. Overall very good.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks guys! Ray, with the original image the perch was much lighter, and parts were clipped, which required recovery in ACR that was only partly successful. In PS I used the quick selection tool, copied to a new layer, then used multiply as a blend mode. I tried darkening from that point, and it just did't look right. regards~Bill