- Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
- Focal Length 500 mm
- Shutter Speed 1/6400 sec.
- Aperture 4
- ISO/Film 640

- Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
- Focal Length 500 mm
- Shutter Speed 1/6400 sec.
- Aperture 4
- ISO/Film 640
I love the light and wing position. Was this a vertical capture or a crop to vertical? If a crop, I'd suggest a little more room.
What a great position. Not like any other I have seen.

Thanks very much guys, Jeff this was a vertical shot and is full frame, i could add canvas, where would you suggest more space?![]()

While ha could be improved and more room could be on the bottom, you have a vg pose and you do have the complete reflection of the head and neck.
I am a fan of low iso so I wonder why you used such a fast ss.
Very beautiful light and pose. I wish for a bit more room on the right. Great reflection and I like the pink scalloped edges of wing feathers. I also like the water splash very much. A really great image,
Gail
The colors and low angle are stunning! The light, clarity, and BG, are also great and help add to the image. I agree on more room and a better HA.
Looking forward to more!
Even with the head turned away this is spectacular for all the reasons mentioned above: killer light and pose especially. I love those scalloped pink wing coverts. BTW, I am fine with the framing. I just noticed that the whites on the neck look hot.... Be right back.
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Bummer. Are the WHITEs clipped in the master file???
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Great pose and light and I like the iridescent in the primaries...Whites look hot again in some places...I see Arthur's shown it in his screen grab.
Nice low angle, great light and beautiful colors in this shot.

Thanks very much all, much appreciated.
@ Arthur, thanks for you help, the master file was indicating very little blown areas on the neck but much less than indicated in your post, did a little recovery in LR, repost is below, does it look better?
![]()
It may look a bit better but it still shows lots of clipping. The way to do it is to go back to the RAW after studying some of the Saving the WHITEs tutorial in BPN's most under-utilized resource, the ER. Or easier, see ACR conversions in Digital Basics. You need to learn to use the Recovery Slider properly. Reducing the color temp or the Saturation can also help save the whites.
You have good gear. You created a fine image. You owe it to yourself to do some studying and improve your Photoshop skills.... You and many others.
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Thanks very much for you comments Arthur, your input is always very much appreciated.
I have gone over this repost and the master file after re adjusting and neither show any signs of burnt out areas. I dont use ACR, i use LR 3 for the majority of my processing and then a little in CS 5. I am well aware of how to use the recovery slider and that is one of the tools i used to get rid of the few burnt areas there were after you pointed this out (thanks for that).
I have looked at the Histo of both the image posted here and the master file in LR 3 and in CS5 and neither produce any red dots indicating burnt areas, so cant understand why you still getting indications of burnt areas?
As i said before thanks for your comments and please do keep sharing!
Brendan, Open either of the posted images here in CS-5. Open a Levels adjustment Layer. Hold down the ALT key while clicking on the Highlight Slider making sure that the slider is all the way to the right. When I do that with either image I see a pegged histogram before I hit the Alt key and the neck, coverts, and bill show as over-exposed in the RED channel with thick RED speckling indicating over-exposure...
Have you done that?
I did not mean to impugn you.![]()
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BTW, when I reduced the RED SAT 15 points much but not all of the clipping was reduced.
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Thanks Arthur, i think we miss understood each other or rather i misunderstood you, i was under the impression the whites were blown, i now see what you mean in the red channel, have taken your advice and dropped the red sat by 15 points, and it is better, not perfect but better![]()
YAW. Best to start from scratch and reduce the RED channel SAT via the HSL tab. Furthermore, if you are doing the conversions properly in either ACR or in Lightroom (they are the same) you should be holding down the ALT key when you work on both the EXP and the BLACK sliders (and the Recovery slider if need be); clipping in any channel will be seen there. Again, you want to deal with any and all clipping while converting the RAWs (not afterwards as there is nothing that can be done then...). And in effect, the WHITEs were blown, rendered detail-less by the high RED SAT :).
I am betting that if you start from scratch you can post a perfect one with no clipping but it will take some work. Again, see in Digital Basics or in the ER; there is lots more similar stuff in both.
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Hi Arthur,
I found the problem, you had me seriously confused. Just been working on the master file and found that nothing was burnt in the red channel either, no indication of red dots anywhere! Now just been reading the comment on one of you latest images and found the debate on SRGB or adobe RGB, so i tried it. The posts above were converted to srgb before posting, when i converted back to Adobe RGB the clipping disappeared! Hense there being no clipping on my Master file as it is Adobe RGB. Guess i will be posting here in Adobe RGB from now on!
FYI, LR3 doesn't have the algorithms to distinguish the RGB channels in exposure adjustments, therefore if you open the above repost in LR3 and check the clipping either by clicking on the indicator in the histo or by holding down the alt key and the exposure or recovery sliders there is no indication of clipping at all, however in CS5 after clicking Ctrl L and holding down the Alt key and the highlight slider the red channel does show the indications. This is to say the image is in SRGB, once converted back to Adobe RGB the clipping vanishes.
The below repost has had no adjustments other than a conversion from Srgb to Adobe RGB, check a let me know if its improved, thanks.
![]()

Although converting back to Adobe RGB has resolved the clipping issue, the colours are not as they are on the master file or the print, printed in Adobe RGB! So now how does one find a happy medium?
Im sure there is a way to rectify this on the actual site build, as other sites i post on require or stipulate a conversion to Srgb is a must to create uniformity in images.
Agree on the sRGB problem. I no zip about LR but find it hard to believe that you cannot check for clipped Channels while converting. My understanding is that the conversion is identical to converting in ACR. Perhaps others can chime in.
I was able to up the SAT 7 points with only a sprinkling of clipping. Maybe now some of the stubborn folks will either believe me or at least try it.....
Last idea: convert in ACR while working with the REDs in the HSL panel. Keep going back and checking for clipping as you do so....
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I think this is a really kick a-- image and definately worth figuring all the whites mess out. I am so behind in my PS skills and really need to study up so I can't offer any suggestions for that but do feel the need for just a little more room on the right. Knowing you don't have it though I am fine with the image as is too if you weren't into adding the canvas.

Arthur, there is no doubt that it makes a significant difference that is fact i have tried it with may different images, images with less white in it are less effected but ones with a larger amount of whites as in most bird images are largely effected.
I will do some research into checking the different RGB Channels in LR but as far as i know this is not possible will get back to you.
I havent used ACR for so long, how would you go about checking them in ACR?
Cheryl< thanks very much for your comments!
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Another approach that can be helpful with ACR or LR is to use the adjustment brush with -.5 exposure to paint the neck a little. I usually paint at around 5-10%, so as to able to feather the effect where needed. You can then adjust the slider to increase or decrease the effect. As to the saturation, you can also do selective saturation in ACR -- don't remember what it's called (I'm at work), but it's the tab with the squibbly horizontal lines.
It's a great image, and well worth the effort.