Mandarin Close Up

Overread · Sep 16, 2020

Nice close up - looks a bit dark though? Perhaps a touch more brightness to the photo as a whole and you could consider opening a hue and saturation adjustment and lowering the saturation in the cyan colour channel just a bit (you might want to use a layer mask to select the white area so that you don't lose the blues in the blue colouring on the bird)

Dean_Gretsch · Sep 16, 2020

They are a stunning species. Nice photo.

Space Face · Sep 16, 2020

Overread said:
Nice close up - looks a bit dark though? Perhaps a touch more brightness to the photo as a whole and you could consider opening a hue and saturation adjustment and lowering the saturation in the cyan colour channel just a bit (you might want to use a layer mask to select the white area so that you don't lose the blues in the blue colouring on the bird)

Yeah, I kinda agree. It was taken in shade so is near how it looked in life. I did brighten it in PP just before I posted but didn't like the result so posted the original. I might have another stab tho. Thanks for the input. Appreciated.

Space Face · Sep 16, 2020

Dean_Gretsch said:
They are a stunning species. Nice photo.

Thank you.

PJM · Sep 16, 2020

Very nice photo! What lens did you use?

Space Face · Sep 16, 2020

PJM said:
Very nice photo! What lens did you use?

Thank you.

Canon 500mm f/4L.

terri · Sep 16, 2020

I love the posture and that close crop! Very nice job.

The darkness doesn't bother me - I rather like it. I do find I'm distracted by the treatment of the water in the background - it looks more like smoke swirls, even feathery in the left upper corner. Keeps pulling my eye away from your lovely subject.

weepete · Sep 16, 2020

Very nice shot, I really like the water but I agree the shot is under, by about 0.4 EV I think. I reckon it's a bit too blue in the whites and could do with the colour temp raised as well.

Derrel · Sep 16, 2020

Even though the photograph was made in the shade, I think that it would look better if it were brightened in post, as overread suggested.

Overread · Sep 16, 2020

One thing to remember is that if a photo is entirely in the shade then if we were viewing that scene with our eyes, our eyes would adapt to the dimmer lighting. So we wouldn't see the "shade" as such as being dark/underexposed (up to a point of course). Plus there's nothing in the shot to convey that its in the shade so we don't expect to see it darker.

Pixeldawg1 · Sep 16, 2020

They are truly beautiful creatures, and surprisingly, you don't see them much in China. Mostly zoos and wildlife exhibits. I agree a bit dark and on a calibrated monitor, a bit blue as well. All easily fixed though.

Be well,

Mark

Space Face · Sep 17, 2020

terri said:
I love the posture and that close crop! Very nice job.

The darkness doesn't bother me - I rather like it. I do find I'm distracted by the treatment of the water in the background - it looks more like smoke swirls, even feathery in the left upper corner. Keeps pulling my eye away from your lovely subject.

Thanks. There was no treatment of the water. That's pretty much how it was sooc. Strange I know but I've noticed this a few times with this lens when there's slight water movement in dark or shadowed water.

Space Face · Sep 17, 2020

weepete said:
Very nice shot, I really like the water but I agree the shot is under, by about 0.4 EV I think. I reckon it's a bit too blue in the whites and could do with the colour temp raised as well.

Derrel said:
Even though the photograph was made in the shade, I think that it would look better if it were brightened in post, as overread suggested.

Overread said:
One thing to remember is that if a photo is entirely in the shade then if we were viewing that scene with our eyes, our eyes would adapt to the dimmer lighting. So we wouldn't see the "shade" as such as being dark/underexposed (up to a point of course). Plus there's nothing in the shot to convey that its in the shade so we don't expect to see it darker.

Pixeldawg1 said:
They are truly beautiful creatures, and surprisingly, you don't see them much in China. Mostly zoos and wildlife exhibits. I agree a bit dark and on a calibrated monitor, a bit blue as well. All easily fixed though.

Be well,

Mark

Thanks for taking time to comment folks. Points about light taken on board

K9Kirk · Sep 17, 2020

Space Face said:
Overread said:

Nice close up - looks a bit dark though? Perhaps a touch more brightness to the photo as a whole and you could consider opening a hue and saturation adjustment and lowering the saturation in the cyan colour channel just a bit (you might want to use a layer mask to select the white area so that you don't lose the blues in the blue colouring on the bird)

Click to expand...

Yeah, I kinda agree. It was taken in shade so is near how it looked in life. I did brighten it in PP just before I posted but didn't like the result so posted the original. I might have another stab tho. Thanks for the input. Appreciated.

Would be interested in seeing this pic with the whites raised 'a little' to liven the colors a little and a 'small increase' in the temp. If you do, (and I'm sure you already know this) careful raising the whites too much and causing noise. That often seems to be the trade off when increasing the light in a dark pic.
All in all though, I like the pic, it looks like a beautiful mandarin duck in the shade.