Ice Bath?

[Arthur Morris]

This bathing Snow Goose image was created on the recently concluded Bosque IPT with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Bright sunny white exposure: 1/1600 at f/10.

When the geese are in the main pond close to the road there are always lots of them. Isolating a single bird is a huge challenge. I would prefer a pure blue water background but did the best that I could .

Don't be shy: all comments welcome.

ps: for more Bosque images and info click here, here, here, or here. The first link is to the end of November Bosque report, the last is to the mid-November Bosque report.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Artie, this is beyond awesome. The low angle, light, expo and comp are, of course, perfect. The sparkling ice-like water blanketed around, the droplets on the head, and especially the "tear" drop make this an absolute winner for me!

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Excellent techs, like the mantle of water,low angle,catchlight.

Agree about the BG, but the bird is so strong, it keeps ones eye riveted.

You could try lowering the luminosity of the upper background to match the darker area in front of the bird, would downplay the white and give a bit more visual separation from the whites of the bird.

Cheers

Randy

[Grace Scalzo]

I hardly notice the background. The bird, the droplets on his head and his ice bath keep my attention where it is supposed to be. Love everything about this one, Artie.

[Stu Bowie]

Artie, excellent IQ, exposure and sharpness, and your low angle works so well. I dont mind the BG, the whites sort of correspond to clouds. The droplets puts this over the top.

[Tom Rambaut]

I love the effect of the water around the neck. Looks like the bird is crying with the tear drop coming from the eye. Not fussed about the BG.

[Jonathan Ashton]

What makes a good shot great, it is nearly always that little something extra, boy has this got it! The water droplets are gorgeous but you also have such delicate light playing on them - a real delight to the eye.

[Dave Leroy]

That bright light paid off handsomely with a very nice dof. Always nice to see your shots. They have such a nice clean presentation.

Lovely and good for you.

[Arthur Morris]

You could try lowering the luminosity of the upper background to match the darker area in front of the bird, would downplay the white and give a bit more visual separation from the whites of the bird. Cheers Randy

Thanks Randy and all. Randy, how would you go about lowering the luminosity of the upper BKGR?

[Neil Nourse]

Artie, what a great shot.

Sure does look like ice doesn't it! The eye drop makes this one for me.

Neil

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Really cool Art. The water is awesome and you did great with the detail in the whites.

[dankearl]

Very cool shot (no pun intended).
The BG is fine with me, I was there, it is very hard to isolate one and you did a nice job.
The water/ice effect is really good.
I like the "tear" coming out of the eye.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Randy and all. Randy, how would you go about lowering the luminosity of the upper BKGR?

Artie:

I did a couple of things on the repost. Did a luminosity layer, set blend mode to multiply, 81% opacity, hide all mask, brushed in a gradient with a large soft brush. Did a "protect and defend" selection of the birds head so that the gradient didn't effect it. Second, I used the color replacement tool, selected a blue tone off the right side of the upper BG and brushed that in lightly over the whiter areas of the background to further soften the impact of the white reflections.

Obviously, I could have used Robert's canvas flipping technique and just replaced most of the white with canvas from the other side, but thought I would give the above tech. a try first.

I could brush out some of the blotches caused by the original whites to smooth it out a bit more.

Photoshop crashed at the end and I lost all my edits and so this is a bit unrefined, but I think it shows the general concep.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh man I love the water covering half the goose...very neat! Looks quite refreshing. I like the tear too. I'm wondering what would have caused some of the lumpiness in the water directly in front of the subject...

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Perfect for the theme, Artie. absolutely love that water all over the goose. great low angle, exposure, details and DOF. Well done as always.

[Raul Padilla]

fresh and dynamic, the drop in the eye is like a tear, i like the uop bkg more homogeneus blue