Fighting the Post Processing on this one.

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Promapper

Promapper

Greg
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I've tried adjusting this shot many times over many months and nothing I do seems to look right. Feel free to download and repost.

one photo is the original jpg from the NEF raw file with no adjustments done to it. The other photo is a histogram stretch and shift with white balance set.

speared to be processed.jpg
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speared histo clipped white set web.jpg
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On my monitor some of the whites look blown out, like on the bird's jaw and parts of the water. I know you want to get some good contrast from what looks like very flat light conditions. Maybe pull back on the highlights a bit. I might try raising the saturation a tad, and maybe a little clarity (I'm assuming you are using Lightroom, or Camera Raw, sorry if that's wrong.)
 
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I actually think on this image, Less is more. a bit of levels and curves, Touch of color adjustment, and think it is not to bad. Of course working from a raw from the start would be best on this image. Detail sharpening and working on the head would improve further. But, the lack of eye details on both GBH because of the second eyelid, or fish, makes the image loose something, even with the spearing action.

D10BC744-69D3-4079-9F5D-F700286A686F.jpeg
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Consider changing your post processing technique to doing it on layers, If you lighten the original, it over exposes in parts as you have demonstrated. I would place separate layers on the GBH and the fish and develop them in that leaving the main photo as it is which will heighten the contrast.
 
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I agree with the comments above, especially the less is more idea. This image doesn't need more contrast or brighter whites to work, I might have tried some subtle shadow recovery in the original image but not much more than that. The biggest issue IMO is just bad luck that the Heron's nictitating membrane(inner eyelid) is closed taking all the color out of the eye. There's games you can play in post with that but they tend to look pretty fake.

The composition is great, the focus and shutter speed selection appear dead on, having both the fish and the Heron's faces and eyes visible is great. The action is great with the water droplets coming off the fish and the moment is of course fantastic. But that's where nature photography can get so frustrating you can absolutely nail all the major points at a great moment and one detail can be hard to overcome.

Here's one way that image might be worked going from the jpeg version of the orignal. Here's what I tried:

- Opened up the shadows and actually pulled down the highlights a bit with the Shadow Highlights tool in PS (could have used Shadown and Highlights sliders in LR or ACR)
- Selected just the eye, feathered the selection, copied it to its own layer and did some reconstruction work with the clone stamp, the paintbrush using a brighter yellow and a curves adjustment to restore some contrast on just the eye. When it looked passable I merged that layer back into the original image.
- Added a bit of vignette to darken the edges of the photo a bit.

Starting from the original raw file you could probably do a better job but with that eye rebuild there's always a risk that it won't look realistic as the information just wasn't captured at the time the photo was taken. And at least to me if I get this deep into touch up work I'd start to view it as digital art as I literally painted information into the eye but folks have differing views on that subject.

Heron_fish4.jpg
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Capturingtheunseen.com said:
Aside from the suggestions you've already gotten, "the eyes have it." The Great Blue Heron has striking eye color, and it is missing in this shot. That may be what you're longing for to make it pop.
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It appears to have his nictitating membrane closed. Possibly a normal position while striking into water?
 
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Tricky! I tried a small curve adjustment, a bit of negative clarity on the background, and some lighting to draw the eye to the action. It's a really nice shot and a challenge!
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In a situation like this, where you obviously like the image but the eye is a problem, just copy an open eye from one of your other images and fit it in on a new layer. Bingo, the whole image speaks to you. I have many images where the nicnitating membrane image is the stronger image. It is your image - just change the eye!
 
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Has anyone tried masking things in or out in PS CC 2020 with curve layers?
That would certainly make a difference in the blown-out whites and the darker parts of the bird.
 
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