Mating Black Ibises

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Canon 1D MIII with Canon 500 f/4, Handheld.

EXIF: 1/1600, f/5.6, Aperture Priority, Evaluative Metering, ISO 400, AI Servo with central focus point, +2/3 EC.

The light and background were great, and so was the action. To get better detail in the blacks I compensated by +2/3 stops. Hope you guys like it. Would like to hear your thoughts.

[Ramon M. Casares]

It looks really oversharpened and some SH to get more detail out of the shadowed areas would help IMO.
But the natural moment, BG, low angle, species and atitudes are great. Congratulaitons.

[Aidan Briggs]

Ditto Ramon. The light is decent, but not great IMO. You might try cloning out the rock beneath the birds heads.

[Raymond Barlow]

Cool image... slightly over-sharpened, a halo along the top of the birds back would confirm this., maybe some off the top would help the composition, and cloning out the small distraction below the birds would help... superb details on the black feathers, a great exposure considering what looks like harsh light.

[Doug Brown]

I think you did quite well with the exposure and low angle. I like the green BG and the great interaction. I agree with the suggestions regarding sharpening, getting a bit more detail out of the blacks, and removing the rock.

[Rohan Kamath]

I think the moment captured is fantastic...Not easy to get something like this out in the open... Agree with everyone above on PP suggestions(partly because I'm to amateur to comment on them... :D)

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I guess I went a bit overboard with the sharpening! I'm not really good in post processing; I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, and I'm not sure how to get the details in the blacks. I left the cowdung (below the birds), as I do not like to remove elements that were there.

How do I repost an image?

[Stu Bowie]

Pranay, to repost an image, click on the go advanced, and proceed with the same way you would upload an image. I feel you have done fairly well with the detail on the blacks. The angle works very well, and Im in agreement with regards to the oversharpening and removal of the rock. Still, a moment well captured.

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Thanks Stuart.

Reposting the image with reduced sharpening and bit of levels and saturation. Does it still look oversharpened?

[Mohanram Kemparaju]

The details in the reposted image looks far better.Nice active here Doc

[Arthur Morris]

The repost is a huge improvement. The action captured and the two perfect HAs (head angles) are fantastic. Leaving the dung is a personal choice that I can respect. You needed to point your lens more to the right so that the birds were not centered. And if you had been able to get right down on the ground, the image would have been that much more spectacular. (I see that that would likely not have been possible as it would have introduced more o-o-f elements along the lower right frame edge.)

Lastly, welcome, and thanks for your membership support.

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Thanks Artie for your thoughts, appreciate it. This was taken from the car; these are very shy birds, as are most of the birds here, so getting out of the car would have scared them away.