Roseate spoonbill #2

[gail bisson]

Day 2 on the Hooptie Deux proved to be perfect light-wise and weather-wise.
Canon 1D MK IV
f 500mm
HH standing on pontoon boat.
ISO 400
SS 1/2000
f 8.0
Added 5% canvas on RHS and bottom of frame and cropped 10% off LHS. Cloned small stick floating in water in LLC.
PP in LR3 and CS5
Should I do something about the black "donuts" in RUC?
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Tim Kaufman]

i like it as is, with the donuts. they look like the bases of some cool cyprus trees out there! sharp eye!

[Gary Esman]

Gorgeous Gail! Love that wing position!

Gary.

[dankearl]

Wow, stunning light, the BG looks fine, you would probably degrade the image trying to fix them and I would not
really have noticed if you hadn't mentioned them.

[Hazel Grant]

I agree that trying to fix them would mess up the whole photo. I didn't really notice them either. You actually have lighter green streaking on both sides of the photo so that balances it all out. I like the shadows playing on the wingspan, too.

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Great wing position, with interesting play of light. Relatively unusual green water for a spoonie, at least for since I am always there earlier in the year.

It would be easy to soften the dark donut holes with the clone stamp on low opacity if you want to. The large dark area between the wings has more visual impact for me than the 'donut holes'

Did you use any Color Efex Pro?

Glad your second day was better!

Cheers

Randy

[gail bisson]

Hi Randy,
I did not use Color Efex on this image,
gail

[Joe Senzatimore]

The color puts this one over the top. Very sweet image. Love the comp and wings being spread out.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely light and wing position on this one, Gail. My preference is always for that glowing green background water but I just love colors that pop. Glad you had such a great second outing with James on the HD. It was a pleasure having the chance to meet and photograph with you!

[Grace Scalzo]

These colors rock. Looks like you're getting a giant pink hug. I'd get rid of the circles, and then enjoy this one. Handheld, no less. Good work, Gail.

[Jamie Douglas]

I have to get myself to Florda one of these days. Nice incoming landing pose Gail. Feedback wise I would brighten the image just a tad and maybe crop a little tighter at the top as my eyes are drawn to the OOF wing tips rather than the head area of the bird. I think it would give the image better balance.

Jamie

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent incoming pose with good details and good exposure. the spoonie is a bit dark, I would brighten it by 1/2 to 2/3 stops while protecting the highlights for better pop against the dark BG. would also clone out the donuts or crop tighter to get rid of them

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, well placed in the frame, and well timed to get the outspread wings for the incoming landing. I like Arash's idea of a bit more 'exposure' on the spoonie, it should pop even more from the dark BG. Another vote for blending in the donuts URC.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing position, lighting and BG. Nice image Gail!

[Chris Kotze]

Super landing pose and great colours. I love these pink spoonbills compare to the white ones in SA

[gail bisson]

Thank you all for your helpful comments to make this image better. I cloned out the donut, cropped a bit off the top and increased the exposure on the bird by 1/3. I really like the improvement with the increased exposure,
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wicked pose and beautiful light. The only thing I'd watch out for is some of the repeating patetrns at the bottom from the canvas extention, plus I'd fill in the dark black at very bottom edge.

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Gail, repost looks great and glad you appreciated and benefited from the feedback.

Jamie

[Roger Clark]

Gail,
I like the repost. As others have said, beautiful light. It looks like the phase angle is about 60 degrees, which would normally produce high contrast shadows. You must have had enough other reflected light to mitigate the deep shadows. Well done. My only suggestion is to brighten the feet a little as they merge with the background.

Roger