House sparrow siblings

[Bird Guy]

Hello y'all, this will be my first post on the forum! Hoping to get some criticisms on the most recent photo I enjoy from the beach, of this younger House sparrow with its sibling in the background. Specifically, I was wondering if the highlights could use a little bit more burning in post or if it still holds the detail I'm after.

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[DRwyoming]

I was wondering if the highlights could use a little bit more burning in post or if it still holds the detail I'm after.

Some burning or perhaps Highlight Recovery would likely help but I'd probably try reducing the overall exposure by a third to half a stop first. The highlights are definitely bright and that costs some feather detail but even the midtones are pretty bright and dropping the exposure a bit would help both. Even if a subtle exposure adjustment doesn't fully recover the feather detail it will likely give you less work in terms of burning or other highlight recovery method.

 

[Bird Guy]

Some burning or perhaps Highlight Recovery would likely help but I'd probably try reducing the overall exposure by a third to half a stop first. The highlights are definitely bright and that costs some feather detail but even the midtones are pretty bright and dropping the exposure a bit would help both. Even if a subtle exposure adjustment doesn't fully recover the feather detail it will likely give you less work in terms of burning or other highlight recovery method.

Thanks for the advice! I'll go ahead and try changing it in Lightroom once I find time :^)