Black-Necked Stilts in Afterglow

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D4
500mm +1.4x
Skimmer Pod

ISO 500
f/9.0
1/2500

Taken at a marsh in Fort Myers, FL a week or so ago. Marina and I were on our bellies in the mud, and were excited to witness a pair of stilts mate right in front of us. I got some decent shots of that, though from head on. But I was very happy to be in the position I was when they did their bill crossing just after he dismounted. Such a sweet moment. And I love how his wing is still over her.
Cropped to a vertical, did a bit of lightening on male's face, some sharpening, NR, whites recovery.
Thank you for looking, all C & C greatly appreciated.

[Morkel Erasmus]

A wonderful moment, exquisite timing to catch this Melissa, and your POV was awesome.
I do find that they might benefit from another slight round of sharpening as presented. Love the BG colours!

[Ofer Levy]

Lovely moment captured beautifully! Just applied some cooling filter, reduced yellow and sharpened.

[Melissa Groo]

Oh my goodness. It only looks about 4x better, Ofer! When you say you applied cooling filter, what exactly did you do? Just reduced temp or used a Photoshop or other tool? Thank you so much, you really have improved it considerably.

[Ian Cassell]

Outstanding, Melissa. I only seem to get them when they are pointing in the wrong direction. Ofer's edit takes it over the top.

[dankearl]

Wicked pose captured, Melissa. Very nice IQ also.
I like the color a bit better on Ofer's, but would not sharpen as much.
Just a great timed photo to get this.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a beautiful tender moment!! Love the male's facial expression, and the bulging eyes on both make for a comical cartoonish look (in a good way). I like the tweaked colours of the repost. Good call on the vertical...I do wish the OOF rock (?) in the background was not there though.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I am sooo freekin jealous girl and I am definately throwing your butt in the mud next time. This is so cool. A great moment captured and Ofer's repost put it on top. Great work girlfriend.

[Tom Rambaut]

Love the moment and interaction - I like what Ofer has done in the repost.

[arash_hazeghi]

Super interaction Melissa, you are rolling some excellent stuff!

The original is a bit soft and shows a green cast, Ofer's respot addresses both although would be ideal to start from RAW

Great work

[christopher galeski]

nice capture,like ofer's repost,agree on the light rock in the BG wish it was not there,but still a very nice intermate image,well done.

[gail bisson]

What a wonderful sighting! Ofer's repost really puts this over the top.
I, too, would like Ofer to explain how he applied a cooling filter.
Your low POV and vertical comp are excellent. I might try to open up the blacks a bit,
Gail

[Dumay de Boulle]

Love the shooting angle and the interaction is great. Ofers repost nailed it!

[rajojomanik]

Lovely moment and well captured Milissa.

Shooting on your belly in mud really paid off, not sure if I'll do but then again I've never tried it.

Yes Ofer, I too would like to know more about this cooling filter.

[Melissa Groo]

I found a Cooling Filter in Photoshop and used it (under Adjustment Layers/Photo Filters). Maybe that's what Ofer did. Also took out the BG rock (thanks for suggestion, Daniel), and did a bit more sharpening. Here's my rework.
Thank you for all the comments and suggestions!

[gail bisson]

Hi Melissa, I think you should PM ( or I can but don't want to overstep myself) Ofer and find out exactly what he did.
In your repost, the whites on the chest now look blown and it is still a bit yellowy.Sharpening looks good though and cloning of rock excellent.
Gail

[Melissa Groo]

Hi Melissa, I think you should PM ( or I can but don't want to overstep myself) Ofer and find out exactly what he did.
In your repost, the whites on the chest now look blown and it is still a bit yellowy.Sharpening looks good though and cloning of rock excellent.
Gail

good idea...

[Frank Schauf]

Great pose and setting you have here.

[Ofer Levy]

Hi Melissa, sorry just saw your PM. In PS CS5 - go to LAYER, select "New Adjustment Layer" then "Photo Filter", select "Cooling Filter 82", play with the slider till you get it right (I think 7), then go to Layers again, select "New Adjustment Layer", select "Hue Saturation", in the scroll down window select "Yellows" move the saturation slider to around -21 to reduce the yellows, go to LAYER select "Flaten Image" and that's it. There are a few other ways to get this with other tools but this is what I did.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks a lot Ofer, very useful info.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Melissa ,
your repost is almost close to perfection.Congrats

Cheers Andreas

[Tin Man Lee]

Love how they both raised their wing. They looked happy :)
Big improvements after the cooling and removing the rock which was a distraction.
Fantastic sweet shot!