Yellow Legs Swimming ~ High Key

[Jim Fenton]

This one will probably get some differing comments as I do and don't like it myself.

As usual, we had heavy fog and bright overcast this morning...I'm not convinced we'll ever see real sun early in the day again!

First off....techs:

Nikon D300s, 600VR, ISO 800, f6.3, 1/200, Custom flat tone curve, NearUniWB, CW metering, +1EV

A) Given the conditions I wanted to drive the water white to create a high key image.

B) Due to the fog I was shooting for, the image was really flat with almost no color on the bird. There was a hint of a cyan blue cast ever so slightly so I desaturated those two channels. The interesting thing is that when I desaturated the cyan, the very faint blush of red in the feathers (it was really minor due to the fog) disappeared and I ended up with this.

C) Even though I was low, I would have liked to have been lower but it wasn't possible. I actually needed to be up where I was in order to get the water trail behind the subject and not to get grass reflecting from the edge of the marsh grass beyond.

D) Full steps...convert WB in Nikon Capture and save as Tiff. Turn off sharpening., In CS5, crop with intermediate sharpening as I downsized, desaturated cyan and blue (you could hardly see them), levels to select the water as white (I could have actually left it alone as there wasn't much difference), selective color adjustments on the neutral and black to get rid of the fog and punch up the bird. Final sharpen.

Your thoughts... (Besides the fact that the head turn isn't optimal but it was swimming straight ahead). Is the reflection good enough to use the entire reflection?

[Ron Sprunger]

I for one like it a lot. It has the appearance of an excellent etching. Absolutely top-notch image and treatment. Composition is right on. I might be inclined to put a thin grey or black border around, to keep the white from bleeding out to the world, but that may be my print background speaking.

[Jim Fenton]

Good point about the border...I meant to do that and totally forgot as I spent a lot of time staring and trying to figure out if I really liked it or not.

Thin border asses.

[Arthur Morris]

I like it tons. The head angle is perfect. The pano works perfectly here. Yes to a fine etching.

[Karl Egressy]

Generally speaking I don't like B&W images except portraits.
However, this picture is an exception.
It almost cries for B&W presentation.
Excellent work, Jim.

[Ilija Dukovski]

I like it very much. The patterns of the plumage look great in BW.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

My first thought was, very fine etching! Second thought was, needs a frame.

I really do like it, the high key effect has really simplified the image to its essential elements of pattern and form.

The reflection works well for me, and adds significantly to the image.

Cheers

Randy

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. Great reflection and I really like the ripples in the water. Very well done.