Jerry Biddlecom
December 2024 - Egret With Plumage
Original
About the Image(s)
This was taken at either The Alligator Farm in St Augustine or Wakodahatchee Wetlands near me in Palm Beach. The challenge would be to keep from blowing out very bright hot spots on the bird while maintaining shadows at a reasonable exposure. I started out in Camera Raw working with the various sliders that control brightness, shadows, overall exposure, and (perhaps most importantly) contrast. Then I wanted to get rid of the distractions in the original using mostly the clone tool in Photoshop 5. Next, I thought a vertical orientation would be more appropriate ??“ as well as adding a vignette. Taken with my Nikon D500 with a 70-300 mm lens.
3 comments posted
Snowys can have some expressive feathers and you sure captured that here with the raised crest. Your processed image has very nice color and "punch", I can see why you said the contrast was important. I might try cropping a bit more off the right to eliminate the brighter area in the middle of the frame. Since the bird's head is pointed to the left, it would be ok to have less room on the right, compositionally.
You captured some nice character here. Posted: 12/11/2024 23:48:18
You captured some nice character here. Posted: 12/11/2024 23:48:18
Jerry - this is both nicely taken and developed. The result shows an egret with good character and detail in its 'coat' - the strong yellow of eye and feet really helps.
I too would move it from the centre given its head position. Posted: 12/13/2024 18:30:58
I too would move it from the centre given its head position. Posted: 12/13/2024 18:30:58
Jerry ... Love the detail of the bird which I know is not easy for white birds. Not sure how you would increase the area for the bird to look in on the left without removing the prominent branch residing there. Hence I have no problem with a "portrait" being centered and well balanced as you have done. Overall nicely captured and processed. Posted: 12/16/2024 20:37:46