Crested Crane

[Fotografer]

<img src="http://users.marktwain.net/hawkins2/crane4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
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<p>EXIF: D300, 55-200 VR, 1/250, f/4.8, ISO400, 116mm</p>
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<p>OK... a decent but certainly not spectacular picture of a crested crane with a couple of obvious technical flaws... so why on earth would I be kind of proud of this one.</p>
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<p>BECAUSE I shot it through THIS:</p>
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<p><img src="http://users.marktwain.net/hawkins2/cage1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
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<p>This critter is in the Hilo Zoo, which means it is in a rainforest. All of the cages are absolutely covered in muck from all the rain. It looks like rust but it isn't, it's actually a brown moss. That cage slits are about half an inch thick, and the lens I was using only opens to f/4.8.</p>
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<p>OK, I did a LOT of PP on this one (at least for me... since I don't normally do much of any PP on my critter shots). The beast was completely backlit as you can tell from its crest, and to expose the face I had to entirely blow out the back... it was completely white on top...</p>
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<p>Another problem is that this cage extends over the top of the enclosure, which made REALLY ugly shadows all over everywhere.</p>
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<p>SO... In capture NX I gaussian blurred the background really big time, leaving only the face and crest. I then went into Photoshop (GASP! That's right, me using photoshop) and fixed a couple areas with cloning that were horribly shadowed), then went back to Capture NX and did the rest of the PP.</p>
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<p>In the end, I think it looks OK. Certainly not good, let alone great, but considering the situation I was in I am rather happy with the way it turned out.</p>
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