I found this bird just sitting on the rocks, drying his wings. He was on the other side of a pond, so he was happy for me to come within about 5 metres while keeping his wings out.
Taken on a cloudy day, I was very happy for my new 2.8 tele. :)
PP was some dodging to bring out the wing detail, and make them stand out better from the bg. Also, there was a very saturated green patch just under the birds head, which I did some HSL adjustment to tone it down a little. Some burning around the edges, slight saturation boost, and USM on the bird and the top half of the rock.
Post challenge: For anyone interested, this bird is a Little Pied Cormorant. As for the title, I totally agree. I couldn't think of anything suitable when I submitted the image, so this is what it got. I had meant to come up with a better title before the challenge started, something along the lines of Avian Attitude, but I forgot. I think the title harmed the scores a little, but it didn't go too bad anyway.
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Place: 65 out of 174 Avg (all users): 5.7876 Avg (commenters): 6.4545 Avg (participants): 5.6711 Avg (non-participants): 5.8632 Views since voting: 1026 Views during voting: 270 Votes: 193 Comments: 12 Favorites: 0
Wonderful soft background and crystal clear foreground. I like the saturation and the way you have caught the bird with it's wings out and also looking to the side so that you can see detail in his face. Well done.
Nice colors/contrast. The composition and rule of thirds works nicely here as well. I like the darkened edges. It definitely brings my focus on the bird.
Excellent focus. I think if I could change anything, I might have cropped it a bit differently, but that's just me. All of the focused texture of the rocks is interesting, but distracts your eye from him. What kind of bird is this??? 7
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