White Ibis

Gallery: AvianPosted April 7, 2017209 views5 comments

White Ibis in breeding colors
Circle B Bar Reserve, Lakeland, Florida
3/25/2017 – 9:01:42 AM
Canon EOS 7D EF400mm f/5.6L USM
1/3200 sec; f/7.1; ISO 640
Manual; Evaluative metering
LR5, PS6, Topaz Detail on everything but the bird and sticks, Smart Sharpen on sticks, Smart Sharpen and Topaz Details on the bird, square crop because I think that looks the best for this one.

There are I don't know how many Ibises in Florida. Sebastian the Ibis is the mascot for the University of Miami athletics teams. To me it's always a treat when they change to breeding colors, that bright red instead of orange. I liked the way this one was standing on the sticks.

When a white bird is dirty like this one, I have trouble processing it. Does this processing look okay, and/or if not do you have any suggestions as to what approach to use? I can't really make it all whiter, because then it'll look like the whitest parts are blown.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 7, 2017 at 4:19 PM

Beautiful pose and detail, Barbara. I've been hoping to run across one of these in breeding plumage this trip, but no luck so far. As for the whites, I'm not very good at it, but I know you can use a curves layer and basically hold the bottom half of the curve uniform and just tweak the top half of the curve. That would let you bring the grayer tones up closer to the whites, though it's tricky not to overdo it because that's a very sensitive adjustment-they should really allow tweaking sensitivity of adjustments in PS like turning the gain up and down. Some of the after market adjustment tools might be easier to use, but I'm not familiar with that aspect of any of them.

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

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on April 7, 2017 at 4:21 PM

I like this a lot Barbara and the square crop choice was a good one. Great pose on it's pile of sticks. I might try to brighten it just a bit and see how it looks without blowing the whites. There are few bright areas you may want to clone out or darken so they don't draw the viewers eye. Above the head and the yellow spot on the left. Cool shot!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on April 7, 2017 at 5:15 PM

This looks good to me as posted, and I don't think you need to make it any brighter. THe square crop is fine.

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

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on April 7, 2017 at 8:20 PM

Very nice pose and detail, Barbara, and the square crop works well with the pose. I think you could go a hair lighter on the bird, but overall well processed. Good to see the bird in habitat.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on April 8, 2017 at 7:03 AM

Hi Barbara, were you able to get lower, as you may have had a better backdrop perhaps, as presented it is rather busy, but nature never makes things easy. Perhaps f/11 to ensure the full bill is sharp as the head is angled, you had plenty of SS (good) so no worries on increasing the ISO.

In terms of PP I think it's look a bit too warm, try just dropping the WB (going left with the slider) you will find the whites start to look a bit better. You could also drop some Contrast (less), open the Shadows a fraction and I think the exposure up just under a third of a stop. The image should I feel start to appear brighter and more 'natural'. If you apply Saturation keep it to a minimum, adding Vibrance will tend to go more yellow. If you get the WB looking good the rest is fairly minor tweaks. Personally I might not apply Smart sharpen to the sticks, or at least not to the full amount as applied to the subject.

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments