My version…
IMG_4611.CR3.xmp (19.2 KB)
Un saúdo.
3 Likes
Cool! Very natural …and you didn’t blow out the specular highlights in the water the way my masking did! 
1 Like
It’s interesting all the variants. I processed mine obviously influenced by how I remembered the conditions as I was taking the shot. Others are unaware and unencumbered by the actual experience and therefore are more likely (?) to interpret. Yours, like several others, is brighter than mine. It’s not unnatural-looking at all, but obviously I was influenced by the shadow in which I took it.
My Canon EF 70-300 IS USM zoom isn’t “L” quality nor is it at its sharpest at 300mm although it’s not bad (and better at more moderate focal lengths). The bird isn’t quite as sharp as I’d like but I actually think that’s probably more down to shutter speed than to focal length (or optical quality).
Interesting…
The bounce light on the water is quite extreme…you can go with it or desaturate and maybe darken it… it might work in BW actually as the bird isn’t massively colorful…what bird is it…
The bird is some kind of ibis, not sure of the exact model. 
I kinda like the green color, since it’s (as you implied) about the only color in the shot. I masked and darkened it on my version. I was shooting another angle when he (?) started working his way up toward, and eventually right past, me.
1 Like
Looks like this one… so could I guess have pushed the color a bit in the feathers towards this…but as you say you had shadows
Something must be amiss with your link, but I thought the result was kinda funny… 
Apparently Adobe equates “Birds On Trees” with Instagram and accounting icons…
1 Like
Bin chicken
Yep, that’s him / her.
1 Like
Nice easy shot to process because of good exposure. I also thought for 1600IDO the grain was very reasonable and I only applied the default denoise profiled settings. I used filmic auto tune levels, shadow and highlights module and a second instance of expose masked to the dark section of the wing to lift exposure by 1/3rd of a stop there. I like the reflection of the bird so I kept that in my crop. Thanks for sharing the image.
IMG_4611.CR3.xmp (14.2 KB)
2 Likes
Yeah, I was looking at the overall image balance when I cropped and it would’ve been good to include more reflection in my version. Nice processing.
Thanks.
IMG_4611_03.CR3.xmp (13.5 KB)
My attempt definitely goes against my taste which generally prefers not to deviate too much from the reality of natural light and colours, nevertheless I wanted to try to artificially increase the chromatic range and the brightness gradient.
Darktable 4.2.0.
2 Likes