We were on a backwater pond/lake in Costa Rica when this bird had a confrontation with another and was strutting across the in front of us for some time showing how big and bad it he was. Lot’s of sun and wet made for a lot of bright bokeh balls,which the B&W has helped tame, I think.
Feedback Requests
I don’t do much B&W conversion. This was essentially an application of a canned “Full Spectrum Smooth” preset in Silver Efex with some light added to the eye beforehand. I’m interested in how well it works and how others might have handled the conversion.
Pertinent Technical Details
Sony A1, FE 200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 539 mm, monopod from boat, f/9, 1/800, iso 800. Processed in LR & PS CC. B&W conversion in Silver Efex 6. Taken February 23rd, 2024.
Dennis, a truly wonderful and stunning image. Without the other bird in this scene it appears to be simply a bird having a day at the spa, so to speak. Although I do some B&W conversion I can’t add anything on the quality beyond it looks spot on for my tastes for sure. The well tamed down highlights in the BG adds to the viewing quality in the end…
A very interesting and unusual pose. The detail and tonalities look good to me. I do B/W in LR with the adjustment sliders for the different colors, and the same in PS using an adjustment layer. Then if I’m using PS I’ll do a Silver Efex layer on a composite layer (with the B/W layer off so it’s not included in the comp layer) and it’s easy to compare the two by turning the B/W adjustment layer back on and toggling the SEP layer on/off. (When it is on, the B/W adj layer above it has no effect.)
I usually prefer one over the other, but never know which will win until I try. If the adj layer wins, oit’s nice to be able to tweak other adjustments below it in the stack.
Dennis, I think this works quite well. The bird looks like it’s dancing and having the splashing water cover nearly half the frame adds well to the sense of action.
in the BG adds to the viewing quality in the end… 