Female Sharptail on the Lek. Looking back at the Boys

[kevin Hice]

• Digital Photo Professional

Canon 5D mark 111 300 2.8 2x f6.3 ISO 1000 AV 1600 . Shot from blind on a tripod,mid morning light. Shot in early March in Nd. Removed some grasses.some highlight circles reflections in the snow with patch tool sharpened in PS unsharp mask and isolated the bird with the lasso tool. Did not sharpen the background . Processed in dpp4.0 using Arash and Arthurs guide.Would have liked the birds eye to be more opened here. But she just got done preening and is looking at the boys on the breeding Lek.

 

[David Salem]

• Digital Photo Professional

Toned down

This is a gorgeous shot of this hen Sharptail grouse. One of my favorite bird poses, the loopback while they are preening their tail or back. The image is a little to bright and overexposed. As you can see I adjusted it to what looks best to my eye. I reduced the exposure while adding some contrast using levels and curves. I didn't add any color saturation but as you bring down the exposure and increase the contrast, the colors and feather details come alive. I also did a little more sharpening to the entire grouse. Oh, I tightened up the comp a little, mostly from the bottom. Very nice.One of the better Sharptail frames I have seen.
Where did you get this? It looks like a plains grouse from Nebraska.

 

[Glennie Passier]

Kevin, I couldn't agree more with David. This image is great. Love the colours, the bird, especially the bird pose, the BG. It all fits together so well.

I like the way David has taken a slice off the bottom. I would consider, doing as David did with the contrast, but selecting the bird only to keep the BG a little softer. But your image is lovely as posted.

 

[Tim Foltz]

Kevin nice image, I like Dave's crop better but I think the exposure/curves should be somewhere in-between the two,
Yours is too bright and Dave's looks to have a slight gray film across the image.

-Tim

 

[kevin Hice]

Thanks to every one for the replies and suggestions. Thanks David for editing my Photo. Gives me some more insight or perspective. I definitely like what you
have done here except the primaries are a bit to red. I will play with it again thanks really appreciate . That is how I learn.

 

[Bob Miller]

Kevin...I really like the softness of the the original post ( esp the bg) I would bring down the exposure in the breast and possibly add just a bit of contrast to the grouse only as suggested by Tim.

 

[Warren Spreng]

Love the colors and agree that somewhere between yours and David's RP would be perfect!