black grouse

[greg cowle]

Black grouse on a lekking bog near Oulu, Finland, April this year.
Unfortunately the sun was behind the clouds, but you can see the blue sheen of the feathers as he jumps and calls. He was alone here, I think that is why the wattles are not engorged.
Canon 1DXII with 400/2.8+2xIII on tripod in a very cold hide.
1/2000, f8, ISO 1250, processed in Lightroom.
Greg

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot I suggest you make a selection of the bird got to Photoshop select H/S and remove the blues, the snow is slightly blue but I think that is ok.

[William Dickson]

This is looking real good. I would want some more canvas on top if you have it, and come in from the LHS . Love the pose and detail on the bird. Well done.

Will

[greg cowle]

Thanks Jonathan and Will for the comments. First to Will's comment on the top, I don't have any more in the image, but I think I can stretch the top without to much trouble to improve the framing. Jonathan, I am much less familiar with these than you, I see your shots in previous posts, but you pointing to the blue on the bird, which I think is the natural color of the plumage. I think how apparent it is depends on the lighting, I see it less in my shots when the bird is in direct sunlight, but the overall blue luminance seems within the distribution I see in a range of photos. At least around the neck and ahead of the tail. Is it what you see on the tail feathers themselves which indicates a problem? I did not adjust any of the color channels, only adjusted the shadows a bit.
Thanks,
Greg

[gail bisson]

Love the tip-toe and calling pose and the snow that has been kicked up.
Agree with adding slightly more canvas on top.
I would consider selectively brightening the bird ever so slightly,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Greg I think there is a slight colour balance issue, I appreciate it was darned cold so the light will be blue but if you look at the histogram you will see the darks are clipped blue/cyan. It is not always a simple case of putting the white dropper on a white patch in conditions like this because there is a lot of reflected light. The bottom line is if you are happy then that's what counts but you could launch to PS and then use the black white and grey droppers to see if you prefer the outcome.

[greg cowle]

Jonathan, Appreciate the clarification so I can learn, I am not that experienced at post-processing. For me to see something like this was extraordinary, next step is to present it well.
Thanks,
Greg

[Glenn Pure]

Pretty amazing shot, Greg. Critiques already posted have covered the main issues that I would raise on overall brightness of the bird and the room at the top of the frame. But still a pretty neat image with the bird off the ground like this. And the separation from the simple clean background is great. Nice POV too. Thanks for sharing.

[greg cowle]

Thanks all for the constructive comments. I have attached a repost, adjusting the temperature and adding some canvas at the top.
Greg