Wigeon Pair

[EzhilSuresh]

This Wigeon pair was pictured in Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve. Taken on a dull/overcast morning with no hint of sun.

Details:
Canon 7D, 600 F4 IS, ISO 640, 1/400s@f4, used DPP to increase exposure by +1 stop, ran slight NR, brought out the shadows, cropped about 10% from the left, bottom and top.

Comments are welcome.

[John Chardine]

I like the Ezhil. You did well to get both birds in focus. I like the crop. I think the image needs a little more punch. Maybe a contrast boost?

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Ezhil, I agree with John on this one - I think the blacks were maybe tweaked a little too high. I would suggest adjusting the blacks down a bit and adding a touch of saturation. I think this would bring out the subjects a little better. Good capture, more than one bird is always a challenge and you made good use of your depth-of-field budget!

[EzhilSuresh]

John/Kerry, many thanks for your valuable remarks. I've now started "playing" with the images in DPP and can see for myself the good/bad effects of post processing.

[Arthur Morris]

Ezhil, A belated welcome to BPN. You did a good job of getting two good head angles with both birds sharp and on the same plane. The image as presented is terribly flat. For the repost I lightened it, increased contrast with a curves adjustment, and then again with NIK COlor Efex Pro's Tonal Contrast. Then I lightened the whole thing.

I would recommend a copy of https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252 for you too :).

Final thoughts: best to post at 1024 wide. And this one needs more room below the birds. I suspect that you have more room below in the original capture....

[Arthur Morris]

Looking at the repost I see that I could have sharpened the birds and must ask how large a crop this is as image quality is a bit suspect.

[EzhilSuresh]

Artie, many thanks for your repost. The photo is about 70% of the original. I recently bought the Digital Basics and a long way to go to perform decent image editing.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. Get studying! Do you have any room below the birds?

[EzhilSuresh]

Artie, the above framing is as shot.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, the above framing is as shot.

Hi Again, The framing above is not "as shot." Out of camera images have 3X2 proportions.... But the good news is that you do have more room below. You should use all of that room when you re-do the image. I would love to see a re-post as well. New question: do you have any more room in front of the birds?

[EzhilSuresh]

Artie, there is no more room on the horizontal. Following your Digital Basics, I've been playing with the curves on this image. Yet to find my feet regarding to editing.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, there is no more room on the horizontal. Following your Digital Basics, I've been playing with the curves on this image. Yet to find my feet regarding to editing.

Except for the color balance and the crop, the image in Pane 11 is a big improvement on the original post.

In general you want 2-3 times more room in front of the bird than behind them and 1 1/2 to 2 times as much room above the birds than below....

[EzhilSuresh]

Artie, many thanks for your valuable teachings. Very much appreciated.

[Arthur Morris]

You are most welcome. I wish that I had the time to comment on every thread on BPN :).