Black-crowned Nt Heron

Gallery: AvianPosted February 28, 2010124 views13 comments

returning to the rookery with a twig for the nest.
D300, 500mm f/4, handheld
ISO 400, 1/2500 sec, f/6.3
Feb. 22, 2010 - Rookery, Venice, FL
I cropped the shot, used the shadow/highlight tool on the selected bird, sharpened the bird, applied modest noise reduction on the BG, reduced the saturation and lightness of the BG to allow the bird to stand out in the complex environment, enhanced contrast with a curves adjustment on the basic mid-tones using Tony Kuyper's luminosity masks, and finally, reduced the exposure of the super lights using Tony's luminosity mask. Selecting the bird and nest material was the only time-consuming part of the processing.
Comments and suggestions welcome.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on February 28, 2010 at 10:54 AM

Its a good looking action shot, in spite of all the tweaking.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on February 28, 2010 at 11:18 AM

Very fine capture, David. Although I don't know exactly what the original looked like, it appears that the main challenge here was to separate the bird from a complex background. I've sure struggled with that problem (with varying degrees of success). I think you did it really well here: you did not overdo it. We still see minor distractions...but they are only minor. The bird stands out very well and shows sharp detail except for a bit of softness in the wing (better DOF than I would expect for f/4).

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on February 28, 2010 at 1:40 PM

Steve wrote:
"... it appears that the main challenge here was to separate the bird from a complex background."
No, actually Richard is correct. The bird just popped out of the complex BG in the original RAW file and I, luckily, managed not to screw that up with a lot of unnecessary processing.

Steve also wrote:
"The bird stands out very well and shows sharp detail except for a bit of softness in the wing (better DOF than I would expect for f/4)."
I used f/6.3 as a compromise between DOF and shutter speed. The f/4 you saw is in the description of the lens.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM

well-executed shot, David--both in the field and at the computer. A well captured action shot. Great sharpness and detail in the bird from beak to toes, and the red eye looks great. Your selections for your adjustments look very clean. My only nit is that I think you might have slightly overdone the darkening of the bg, as the bird looks to me a little unnaturally bright. I might try bringing the bg back up a bit. Very nice work.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on February 28, 2010 at 2:10 PM

David,
you got a superb action shot!! I like the excellent detail, the red eye and the composition too.
I agree with Brian about the background.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on February 28, 2010 at 3:05 PM

Very nice result; thanks for the explanation of the PP.

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on February 28, 2010 at 5:02 PM

This guy spends much of his time in the shadows so I do not mind the dark BG. It seems natural and just looks to me that you caught him just before he once again is in the shadows.
Very nice!
Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on February 28, 2010 at 5:50 PM

Wow David, what a shot. The red eye, detail in the feathers, positioning of the wings, outstretched feet - it all came together for you here.

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on February 28, 2010 at 5:50 PM

Wonderful action shot of this heron Dave and well worth the processing time. Love the nesting material in the bill, the way the feet are positioned for landing and how well the bird stands out from the dark background.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on February 28, 2010 at 9:32 PM

David I like this. I wonder, however, if a bit less use of the shadow/highlight tool on the bird would have resulted in a bit more shadow play on the bird, thus making the bird a bit more 3D. In my experience too much removal of shadows from the bird makes them look flat and a bit unnatural. Would love to see the unaltered image to see what your processing did.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 28, 2010 at 11:46 PM

Beautiful action, David. I love the pose and the nesting material. For my taste, the bird might stand out a bit more than necessary. It's starting to get a little bit of cut-and-paste feel to me. Marvelous job on catching this moment and the detail in the bird's body is magnificent. Excellent image.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on March 1, 2010 at 5:35 AM

Nice work on the bird David. The 'ripples' through the wings almost look liquid

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 2, 2010 at 11:29 AM

Great action shot, David. I like the composition and very nice feather detail.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments