Birds at Lake Alford, Gympie - Part 2

[wigz]

More from a brief stop at Gympie on Friday.

1. Eastern Great Egret in breeding plumage


2. Cattle Egret returning with nesting material


3. Cattle Egret in flight


4. Australian White Ibis. High-density Housting

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day Alan

As always - you present us with a range of 'real beaut mate' images

I didn't realise that the breeding colours were so prominent ... do they both gain extra colour??
~ and the 'hi-density housing' mob seem a bit bedraggled from living so close to one another!

Phil

[wigz]

Thanks Phil. For Cattle Egrets both sexes get the colours, other species get fancy plumes. The gold colour is a bit dark in #2 from trying to keep the whites under control.

[Isac]

Lovely shots as always Alan. BIF shots are fabulous!

Just a thought with the darker colour, Alan: In PS, on the top menu go to Select > Color Range... - hold down 'SHIFT' and drag over the orange parts to select the orange colours. Set the fuzz to about 40 and click OK. With the selection still active add a Curves Adjustment Layer (bottom of the layers panel). In the Curves Properties, drag the centre of the diagonal line upwards to '128, 160' which will lighten the orange without affecting any other colours or detail. You can add a bit of feather to the mask to smooth out the edges. Just click on the curves mask and move the 'Feather' slider to the right. Paint with a black brush on the mask to remove selections you don't want.

Here's some screen shots to help out:

#1 - Color Range tool.

#2 - Curves Adjustment.

#3 - All the parts!

[Isac]

If anyone wants the Free Google version of NIK COLLECTION, I have it available on my website:
https://www.isacimages.com/Photoshop...op-Extras.html

[Grumpy John]

I reinstalled Version 4.0 and the error still persists, I was up to V4.2.0.0. I still have v3.0, but I don't want to go that far back, I have never used Viveza and there are many ways to obtain good B/W images. I will wait and see what DxO come back with.

[Isac]

If your product was an actual item like a car, vac cleaner or lawn mower, The company you brought it from would (mostly) be able to fix the problem. NOT software companies, who take you hard earned and treat you like crap and make you wait in a bloody long cue before they respond with a positive reply- if they decide to help you at all that is. They seem to have a special licence without offering any warranty or guarantee that the product will work efficiently. Only software companies have this special right. All other companies MUST have products that comply to standards that make them accountable. Poor old Adobe only made 1.8 billion NETT profit last year and their products are always buggy. Rant over

Is there a big improvement between the Google Freebie NIK and versions 3 and 4?

[HansE]

The Egrets are a beautiful bird. Nicely captured Alan. I didn't have much time for the Ibis until I found out they will eat and survive cane toads.

[Isac]

Go Ibis!!

[wigz]

Thanks Hans. Yes I got a photo of one with a cane toad some time ago. I was a bit surprised but couldn't find much information on it. I did find one site that suggested they could cope with cane toads.

[Grumpy John]

Quite a few of the birds have realised that if they flip the caney over and go for the belly they do not get the toxins which are on the neck behind the head.

[Isac]

Hi Alan, here's the link for NIK, see if this works.
HERE

[Isac]

Still not sure what's happening, so I'll keep on it. Are you using a VPN?

[wigz]

It works ok for my son using Edge and Chrome on Windows 10.

[Isac]

I had a few friends and family test it and it's all OK. That says to me that something on your system or IP address is blocking it. I'll ask the question to my host and see if they can put their finger on it.

[wigz]

VPN installed but not being used

[Isac]

I just thought you may be using a VPN because I've allowed only AU, GB, US and NZ to view my site. All other countries get blocked.