Mirrored Spoonbills

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Just got back from the Merritt Islands Blackpoint Wildlife drive thru. Its been pretty bleak there with a lack of anything to look at or photograph. Today I got a few shots and wanted some feedback on these shots of Spoonbills mirrored on the water. Let me know how I might improve this shot. I cropped out some blank blue to the left to even out the shot more. Shot on my Z7 II with the 500mm f/5.6 PF at ISO 100, 1/640, f/5.6
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You might try a square crop, with the group of three in the centre. A square crop tends to emphasise symmetry and often works well with reflections, and the sole bird on the right doesn’t add much to the image because there is no interaction between that bird and the group of three. You could try a bit more vibrance to bring out the colours on the birds, and some sharpening only on the birds. If you use Capture One, try the structure slider, using a radial filter to limit the sharpening to the birds.
 
You might try a square crop, with the group of three in the centre. A square crop tends to emphasise symmetry and often works well with reflections, and the sole bird on the right doesn’t add much to the image because there is no interaction between that bird and the group of three. You could try a bit more vibrance to bring out the colours on the birds, and some sharpening only on the birds. If you use Capture One, try the structure slider, using a radial filter to limit the sharpening to the birds.
Thanx JP. I'm gonna give it a try now.
 
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Colors are just a tad muted here than on my computer which has the pink very bright and the water and sky reflection are much more blue. In any case, here is the shot with a square crop. It does make the birds stand out.
I like this composition much better! Your whites seem a little blown out. If you have the RAW file, you might be able to tone them down a little, and bring out a little more detail. Nice capture!
 
I like this composition much better! Your whites seem a little blown out. If you have the RAW file, you might be able to tone them down a little, and bring out a little more detail. Nice capture!
Yea, the forum doesn't reflect my photos as well as they are on my computer. I've noted that on all of my submissions. I do like the suggestion to go to square shot and on my computer screen, it looks VERY good. I appreciate the feedback.
 
Rick, I drove through there two weeks ago, and did not find a single spoonbill, and very few birds all together. I got a screen capture of your image and did a few tweaks: square crop, flipped it, reduced brightness and increased saturation on the spoonbills.

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Rick, I drove through there two weeks ago, and did not find a single spoonbill, and very few birds all together. I got a screen capture of your image and did a few tweaks: square crop, flipped it, reduced brightness and increased saturation on the spoonbills.

View attachment 20830
Very nicely done, this gives me some ideas on what to do with 1:1 photos sizing. Its the first time I tried it and I admit it has merit with many wildlife shots. I also did some with my family shots and they came out quite nicely also. I'm a new fan of the 1:1 shot. I like what you did with the picture. PS, Blackpoint has been pretty bleak for about 10 months. This time was the first I went through and there was "some" excellent photo ops. I'll be going back soon to see if it is better. Also, if you're in the Central FL area, the Apopka Wildlife Drive is always outstanding with an abundance of wildlife. Thru the pandemic, it was my go to place to get out of the house and do some photography. If you haven't been you need to go. They are open Fri - Sun till 3pm.
 
Hi Rick. I loved your photo, a very well achieved angle with attractive elements, however, as it is in this blog, I allowed myself to take it and improve some parameters, especially cropping at the top and left - a lot of dead space - adding fill on the right and creating symmetry by placing the reflections equidistant from the top and bottom edge, thus achieving the full mirror effect. Also raising the shadows, lowering the whites and improving the focus a bit. I hope you don't bother, but I think the photo deserves it. Kind regards from Chile.
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