Richard Matheny
November 2024 - Roseate Spoonbill
Original
About the Image(s)
I took this photo last summer at the Donnelly WMA in South Carolina. I passed over this image when I first considered it unacceptable. I have a practice of not deleting images until they have spent some time percolating on my computer. I am glad I kept it because I really like the image now. My issue with the shot was the balance between the Spoonbill and all that green grass. The grass and the bird were each struggling for attention. The solution was to decrease the attention given to the grass. I decreased the texture, clarity, and sharpness of the grass. By reducing those 3 values I was able to remove a lot of detail and cause the grass to have a softer appearance and not be in competition with the Spoonbill for attention. Let me know what you think.
Nikon D500 and a Nikon 300mm lens at F11.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted
I like how you sort of created your own bokeh with the tweaks that you did to the background. Not outlandishly blurry bokeh, but enough to lessen its effect on that lovely spoonbill.
My problem is that when I keep my yucky shots around to percolate. . . they don't. Must be my computer :-) Posted: 11/20/2024 16:59:27
Love the effect of the softness of the grasses behind the spoonbill! The only suggestion I might make is to increase the sharpness of the bird, probably by using the clarity slider in LRC or topaz sharpen AI. Posted: 11/21/2024 22:42:22