Big Mouth

[wendell westfall]

D90 70-200VR+2X@400 1/2000 f5.6 ISO400 -1/3EV monopod

A couple days ago I watched this guy preen for awhile and then caught him when he stretched open his "big mouth". He looks pretty scruffy to me; I think it is a juvenile GBH. I cropped away 50% to empathize the pose. Adjustments made in LR and PSE.

Wendell

[carole wiley]

I like the crop and the pose. Did you do some cloning at the top of the head?

[wendell westfall]

Thanks and good eye, Carole. I did nothing deliberately to the bird's head, but I did add a narrow strip of blue background at the top of the picture, above the head. In camera, I had framed my exposure too close up there.

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendell, I like the idea you had for this image but the light was not right for you. The harsh light coming from the right cast shadows on parts of the bird and bright light on others, never a good situation. What Carole is seeing is a white line above the head of the heron that was probably part of the added canvas at the top. Did you use a shadows/highlights adjustment to the image? There is a dark halo around parts of the bird that is a common artifact of this adjustment.

[wendell westfall]

Kerry, yes, I did use the shadows/highlights adjustment -- and it must have been too heavy-handed (though it was not apparent to me). Thanks for the observations, I always appreciate you thoughtful critiques . . . I'll see if I can be more careful on the next post.

[John Chardine]

Hi Wendell- Interesting behaviour and amazing colour in the mouth. Many birds seem to do something similar. Agree with Kerry's lighting comments. The highlight on the cheek looks burned- not easy to deal with (but easy to do in the field!!). I see a certain "waxiness" to the feathers and wonder if some noise reduction was done? I could be wrong and this is more of a Shadows and Highlights effect.

[wendell westfall]

John, I did do some NR (Noise Ninja) and S/H in (PS Elements). I thought both were used sparingly. But if the result looks so unnatural, I must have been too heavy-handed. 'preciate your input, John . . .

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendell, you have been doing really well with your images lately. This one just got away from you in the lighting department.