Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Another Caspian Tern feeding at a local beach. Morning light with flat water made for great relflections.
Cropping suggestions? Would anyone try to edit out the brown reflection in front of the bird?
Z9/Z100-400 TC1.4, F8, 1/2500sec. Topaz photo AI and LRC for color adjustments.
Hi Dan. No way I’d try to mess with that reflection behind all those water drops. There seems to be an almost purple color cast to this image-all the drops and the body of the tern look way off-might have been an accidental change of color space on export.
Dennis - I looked at several other photos taken the same morning and many of them have that purple cast before any editing of exporting. The light was very low and they are all shot at ISO 10000. Could the WB setting in the camera be causing this? I have it set on auto.
It could. You can get some strange light early in the morning or late in the evening. I keep mine set on auto as well, but the first thing I do in LR is adjust that slider to get the image to look the way I like it.
Hi Dan, really like the repost - whites look much better. Love the pose you caught with the bird partially submerged, nice wing position, and splashing water. Another fine catch.
Agreed that the repost is a vast improvement. Who wants a purple bird? My approach to white balance is to try to match my eye to my viewfinder as much as I can. That way I know it was close when I get the pictures into the computer. Weird casts like this can be caused with low light and auto settings. I get really odd magenta casts in deep shade that is just a result of the camera being fooled. If I see it in the field I correct it there. Otherwise a trick you can use is the eyedropper tool in Lightroom -
By sampling a color that is as close to white as you have in your frame, it usually works really well and needs minimal adjustment afterward.
Thanks Kristen, Yes, I have been practicing with the eye dropper today. Works great!
Stunning image, Daniel. I would not mess with the reflection; to me, that looks perfect. One comment: I have learned to use TOPAZ with a very light touch. A little tends to go a very long way. I realize you used a high ISO, but I wonder what this image would look like without being quite this smooth, and have a bit more original detail to it. Nicely seen, beautifully captured!
I wondered about Topaz. The wings have no texture - no feathers. I will try again. On my computer - an M2 MacMini - the denoise is really slow and sharpening in PS even slower. Topaz is so nice because it is so fast.
I mostly use Topaz DeNoise, even for sharpening. I have had good luck with the Low Light option. Play with all of the sliders, but start with as little as possible, in different combinations. There is no magic set adjustment for all photos 
Thanks for you suggestions. I will explore the options in Topaz in more detail.
A beautiful mirror image Daniel and the brown is not a problem. Love all the spray droplets and I believe he has his eyes closed while bathing. Nice catch!
thank you Jim.
