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Thread: Snowy Egret... breeding plumage and color, crest raised

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    Default Snowy Egret... breeding plumage and color, crest raised

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    I captured this image earlier this year at the rookery in the alligator breeding pond in Gatorland, Orlando, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

    Nikon D500
    Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED image captured at 240mm
    1/3200 F/11 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 1100 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
    Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
    Cropped slightly for composition and presentation
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Talk about feathers! Great for the theme. Just a bit more room above for the very top-most feather tip would be good. Excellent details, exposure.

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    Beautiful look at those plumes! Agree with a bit more room at top. I do wish for a bit more direct eye contact. Exposure looks good.

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    Love that hair do this one is rocking. The details and background are great.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    I'll be the harsh critic here. Yes to a bit more head turn but the big problem for me is that f/11 had brought up a lot of unwanted and distracting BKHR detail ...

    with love, artie
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    I'll be the harsh critic here. Yes to a bit more head turn but the big problem for me is that f/11 had brought up a lot of unwanted and distracting BKHR detail ...

    with love, artie
    Yup, you're right, but you know Gatorland and I was really close to this guy on the railing. I had too many tips of the bill go soft from being close and the bird turning it's head. So I opted for a little more depth of field, always a balancing act and decisions to be made.

    Thank you for viewing and commenting, Artie.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    YAW>. Stopping down is always a danger unless the BKGR is far, far away. Here, probably about 15 feet was too close ...

    with love, artie
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    YAW>. Stopping down is always a danger unless the BKGR is far, far away. Here, probably about 15 feet was too close ...

    with love, artie
    I hear you and will remember but close shows off the plumage so well. Better background?
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Way better but the head turned away is an image-wrecker for me. Assuming that this is the same frame you have done some pretty good work in post ...

    with love, artie
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

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    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Way better but the head turned away is an image-wrecker for me. Assuming that this is the same frame you have done some pretty good work in post ...

    with love, artie
    Hi Artie, same frame, same background. Just a trick I learned from having too much time to spend at the computer. Works with white birds, possibly black birds. Uses Photoshop and Lightroom but I think you could probably do it all in Photoshop. First make a selection of the bird and as much of the crest as possible. Feather and Invert the selection so just working on the background. Use the Paint Brush tool at 20% opacity. Paint over the background until it looks right, some areas need more than others. Delete the selection. Now using the paint brush blend in the areas in the raised crest and other areas near the bird that don't look right. Now I take the image back into Lightroom. I use the Adjustment Brush with a minus saturation setting. I turn on a red mask so I can see where I am painting. I paint over the whole bird. Next I select a Color Mask and with the eyedropper choose white as a color. Using the smoothing slider I adjust so the effect will only be on the white feathers. Then move the saturation slider to the left until I have the white of the feathers where I want it to be. This takes any green out of the white feathers. Works most times for what seems impossible.

    P.S. I Photoshop I use a large soft brush, zero hardness.
    Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 05-27-2019 at 02:16 PM.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

  11. Thanks Arthur Morris thanked for this post

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