The Wood Stork’s have moved into the rookery, pushing around the smaller nesters like Anhingas, and crowding the pre-existing Great Blue Heron nests who can do nothing but put up with them. This was a quick, handheld shot, which caught the light as the bird flew by me. In post, I ran Topaz denoise Ai, just for some export sharpening as there wasn’t much noise. I did some dodging and burning to tone down the hot spots and bring out some detail in the dark spots. The original was cropped, and some background was added to the top edge. I brightened the green areas and added some saturation to the feet. I ran NIK to add a bit of clarity and bring out additional detail from underside of the far wing. I also cloned out some hot or color areas in the background. Sony a1M2, 400mm lens @ f/2.8, 1/4000 second, ISO 200.
8 comments posted
Stanley Cheong
(Group 2)
Wonderful capture, excellent post-technique, learned from you. Posted: 03/03/2025 19:55:15
Jennie Wang
(Group 25)
Hi Mike, you did an amazing job with post production processing. Love the composition and the color of the wing tips, beautiful green color! Posted: 03/12/2025 00:32:02
Pamela Hoaglund
This is a beautiful capture of the wood stork flying with nesting material. Even with the shallow dof aperture the head and front wing appear to be nice and sharp. Beautiful soft light on the front of the stork with some catch light in the eye. I think your post processing worked well in bringing out the details in the stork and decreasing any distracting elements. You said you added some background to the top edge. My only suggestion is to add some canvas to the right also to give the stork more room to move forward. Posted: 03/12/2025 15:24:32
Sharon Prislipsky
This is another spetacular sot to add to your collection. I like the soft diagonal formed by the body of the Wood stork and the color is gorgeous. The bird is in beutiful light and the story is strong, Very impactful! Posted: 03/13/2025 11:39:23
Judith Lesnaw
The outstretched legs, forward thrust of the head, and the powerful wings communicate the fierce determination of this architect. The light is marvelous; the bird soars from the dark mottled background with his building block. This image tells a story of life in the wild. It is definitely wall-worthy. Posted: 03/13/2025 21:39:59
Mike Cohen
Thanks for the very nice comments Posted: 03/14/2025 09:09:19
Tom Brott
One of my favorite creatures - ugly and beautiful at the same time. You did a wonderful job of bringing out all the details with your editing and the lighting was direct enough bringing out that luminescent green on the wings. Another masterpiece. Posted: 03/16/2025 15:50:24
Polly Krauter
Very clever to add some background to the top. You have some interesting birds in Florida! This was very well done, it is so hard to get a bird in flight. Your speed and steady hands did the trick. Very nice. Posted: 03/17/2025 18:06:18
