Kelp Gull

[Mark Young]

I took this in Tasmania on Boxing day. It's of a Kelp Gull and I'ld have to say it's one of my better images in terms of quality.

Canon 7D 300f4+1.4tc iso 200 f/9 1/640 Av mode Ev metering
PP: Slight crop. I can't remember anything else, but most likely curves, SH, contrast boost. NR on the bg and USM on the bird.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image with beautiful composition.Nice angle.Love the pose and details.

[Randy Stout]

Mark:

Nice working of the diagonal in the frame. I might add a little space on the left however.

Sharp. I am not seeing a lot of detail in the whites. YOu might be able to pull out a little more detail.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mark, very similar to our Kelp Gulls, and I do like the diagonal flight pose, although wish the beak was not merging with the far wing. Overall sharp, and I like the hint of cloud in the sky BG.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice one! I would love to see this one a bit lighter. I'm with Randy about more room on left.

[Mark Young]

Thanks everyone for the excellent feedback!

Randy, I tried toning down the highlights, but I to get more detail in the whites, it also tended to make other parts look somewhat greyish. What would be the better way to do this?

Stuart, I agree about the bill dissecting the birds wing. Better luck next time.

[Randy Stout]

Mark:

I am at work, but will try and tinker with your whites tonight, and see if I can bring out a bit more detail for you.

Cheers

Randy

[Randy Stout]

Mark:

Here is a quick version with detail extractor from Color Efex Pro used. I ran the detail extractor filter full strength, then used a hide all mask, and painted back in only the white areas (with a soft brush, low opacity) where I wanted to bring out a little more detail.

I will try another version with just the native PS tools and see how it looks.

Cheers

Randy

[Mark Young]

Thanks Randy for doing that. I can notice the reduction in the brightness of the whites.

I use PSE10 for my PP work, so I'm not familiar with any of your workflow. Whilst I really appreciate the effort you took, I don't you to go to any trouble because I'm not sure I can replicate the work of what you do in PS in PSE.

For whites I mostly adjust the highlights or exposure in RAW, and add some warmth if needed, and then I'll use either Shadows and Highlights or Curves to adjust the highlights, shadows and mid-tone contrasts if needed. I generally use different layers to do this and apply the settings where needed.