Thought I’d post a shot of my nemesis bird which is also my favorite. I find these guys very tough to get close to. This was not a set up. I noticed that this was a favorite perch of this kingfisher and staked out the spot a few mornings in full camo until the bird landed there. Seen at my neighborhood lake.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
any
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
any
Any pertinent technical details:
Canon 7D2, 400mm f4 DO IS, 1.4x TC III, monopod
ISO 800, f6.3, 1/200s
Cloned out some bright sky patches in the background.
Wow, what a great shot, Allen. Such great detail, lovely background, and nice natural perch. Do you use a gimbal head with your monopod? I have tried that once, and I like it. Just haven’t had a chance to get out on a shoot with it, just playing with it in the yard. Just curious. I see that you mentioned the monopod on a few of you shots lately.
Hi Shirley and thanks for the comment. Yes, I use a mongoose 3.6 action head for tripod/monopod with my telephoto lenses. A tilt head would also work well with the monopod.
Exposing my past experience photographing models and retouching, the dark eye on the kingfisher was begging for me to demo a retouching trick. It’s a quick and handy tool any time you want to add just a little subtle light and detail in eyes that otherwise fall back into their surroundings.
Dunno if anyone will like the results or not, but I do. Here’s the trick:
Create a duplicate layer while hiding the background layer and mask all but the eye. Go to brightness/contrast in PS adjustments and increase both beyond anything that looks real. Then use the Opacity slider in Layers to adjust the affect on the eye downward to achieve the extra brightness and detail you want. In this case I had Opacity down around 17%
A very nice job on this Kingfisher, Allen. Nice detail in the bird and you did a fine job taming the background. These are a nemesis bird for most of us, myself most definitely included. I really need to find a consistently used perch like this.
@Hank_Pennington Thanks for the eye tip. I often mess with them and your method seems easier than mine.
It’s more or less a standard retouch with human subjects, but I find it especially useful with animals and birds when faces are shadowed. A little goes along ways as you know, but when done subtly it can greatly liven an image while no one is the wiser.
