James Nelson
September 2024 - Set Approach Flaps
About the Image(s)
Tundra swans preparing to land at a Wildlife Refuge in Washington State. They presented a nice angle showing the underside of both wings as they turned to line up with the wind. I was attracted by how well they mirrored each others movement and wing position through the approach and landing.
Nikon Z9 with 500 PF lens at f/5.6, 1/2500 sec., ISO 1400, matrix metered, exposure comp -0.3, 560 mm focal length, subject distance about 250 feet and significantly cropped.
Raw conversion and denoise using DxO PureRaw 4, global and local adjustments including sharpening, exposure, whites, highlights, shadows, dehaze, texture and clarity in LR Classic, final crop, some local exposure adjustments and export as JPEG from PS.
3 comments posted
Graham Harris
Nice processing here and the timing of capture is great - I too like the mirroring effect you have captured. Inclusion of th eout of focus swans at the bottom of the frame produces a complete story for me. Posted: 09/08/2024 21:53:51
James,
I really like the paired swans and I feel they are plenty sharp to carry the image.
The OOF swans along the bottom of the image are brighter than the main subject, and I believe the whites are blown on those. If you start with the original RAW file, you may be able to pull the highlights and esposure on that area down enough to "save" the whites, then darken them enough that they don't distract the viewer.
Lillian Posted: 09/11/2024 19:10:42
I really like the paired swans and I feel they are plenty sharp to carry the image.
The OOF swans along the bottom of the image are brighter than the main subject, and I believe the whites are blown on those. If you start with the original RAW file, you may be able to pull the highlights and esposure on that area down enough to "save" the whites, then darken them enough that they don't distract the viewer.
Lillian Posted: 09/11/2024 19:10:42
Howard Frank
Nice and sharp and good capture of the peak of the action. I agree with Lillian that the out of focus swans at the bottom need to be darkened a bit. Posted: 09/16/2024 22:03:07