Battle Royale

[brewmaster15]

Migration brings many birds that are normally dispersed closer together. Most of the time members of a species get along fine, but every once in a while some feather brain gets up on the wrong side of the Nest. When that happens it can be pretty dramatic, especially if its a large bird like a Great Egret.

Great egret (Ardea alba)

Great egret (Ardea alba) by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Gathering for a Feast...
High Society Banquet hall by Al Sabetta, on Flickr


Fueling up on Eels
Great egret (Ardea alba) with eel by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

A fight Breaks out..

Aggression during Feeding by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Aggression during Feeding by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Aggression during Feeding by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Aggression during Feeding by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Aggression during Feeding by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Aggression during Feeding by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

[Second Hand Pat]

Wow Al, talk about right place right time. The snowys do that a lot here. I might be able to post some pics of the snowys fighting if you like Al?
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Pat. Sure if you want to tack on some pics... go for it.

al

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Pat. Sure if you want to tack on some pics... go for it.

al

Thanks Al, these are from Sebastian Inlet. There are one malcontent Snowy Egret who was messing with the group. Forgave the white on white.

Snowy Disagreement 1 by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Snowy Disagreement 2 by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Snowy Disagreement 3 by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Snowy Disagreement 4 by Pat Husband, on Flickr

[brewmaster15]

Lol.. yep.snowy's can be a hard one to photo against white.. cool photos though!

[brewmaster15]

Pat on those images, did you happen to try adjusting the Tone Curve? I've had decent luck bringing out more details with it.

al

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat on those images, did you happen to try adjusting the Tone Curve? I've had decent luck bringing out more details with it.

al

I do not have a good feel for the Tone Curve Al but I could play with it
Pat

[AquaticNerd]

Al, your last image where the bird on the bottom right is lookup up, almost in disbelief, gave me a good belly laugh.

Great images folks!

[brewmaster15]

I do not have a good feel for the Tone Curve Al but I could play with it
Pat

I did a quick edit of one of the egrets using your already processed pics and it worked fairly well. I think from Raw you could do even better.


Mind if I post it?

[brewmaster15]

Al, your last image where the bird on the bottom right is lookup up, almost in disbelief, gave me a good belly laugh.

Great images folks!

I'm Glad to pass along a little laughter any time...Thanks Jake!

al

[Second Hand Pat]

I did a quick edit of one of the egrets using your already processed pics and it worked fairly well. I think from Raw you could do even better.


Mind if I post it?

Please do Al, I would love to see it and thank you
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Okay,
Here is the image you posted..


snowy 3_al by Al Sabetta, on Flickr


and my edit

snowy 3_al_1 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

My process was using darktable

adjust the Tone curve,

then" levels" which e modify the black, middle-gray and white points in absolute values of image lightness (the L value from Lab). Here I adjust the white point

then Saturation and Brightness.

I did not want to alter it much more as its hard to work off edited images, but it gives you a little idea on these white birds. I have a real hard time with white Birds..they are either over exposed or under.

al

[Second Hand Pat]

Thank you Al I will give your suggestions a try
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Hope its of use to you.