We will back away from the intimate bird portraits today and present a group of feeding Roseate Spoonbills as accent to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge view. This is landscape (waterscape?) and the birds are really secondary. The fact that they are bright enough to occupy one of the power-points in the composition (junction of the rule of thirds lines) is just a bonus.

This shot began life as standard jpeg of the scene, exposed in Program mode on the Canon SX40HS at 24mm equivalent with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100.

I used Dynamic Photo HDR to tone map it for extended range and added detail, though I toned down the auto settings for a more natural look. I then took it into Lightroom, cropped at bit at the bottom for composition, and used a Graduated Filter effect from the top to lighten the clouds and sky (again going for a more naturally balanced exposure and realistic look), and another GFE from the bottom to darken the vegetation so that your eye is drawn up to the bright birds and the horizon. Added clarity and a touch of vibrance, and sharpened the whole thing. The result is just subtly heightened when compared to the straight Lightroom processing version. A little extra pop, but nothing that stands out as obvious HDR.

Which is exactly what I was after.