Snail Kite captured by Z 9 / Z180-600
If there was one tool I wished were always in my camera bag, it would be saturated light! What is saturated light? Out in the wilds, it is light from the sun that is subdued, protecting highlights, opening up shadows, and making color jump off the charts. The clouds are not the heavy black rain clouds nor the thin God Scrim type. If you look at the water in the background, you can see the gray skies reflected in it. That’s the reflection of clouds that creates saturated light. The adult male Snail Kite has crazy orange feet and mandibles. I touch more light, and that crazy orange becomes washed out. But with the saturated light, they are almost neon. It takes a little camera craft to bring it all out. First, I overexpose by 1/3 stop. Then I set the white balance to 6000k (Cloudy). I always have the ev comp and white balance. I just wish I always had the beauty of saturated light.