Vermilion Flycatcher

[Lyle Gruby]

Shot this guy a couple days ago at a state park in Texas. He and another type of flycatcher were fighting for perches, and they allowed me to slowly ease around them and wait for the Vermilion to perch out in the open. He stayed at this perch and allowed me a few frames. First time I've seen one of these, what a beautiful bird. Small crop for composition, cloned out one OOF branch and one branch beneath him. All C&C greatly appreciated!


Techs:
D7000
200-400 with 1.4 HH
ISO 400
f/7.1
1/1600

[gail bisson]

Great colors in the BG that graduate very nicely.
i like the meandering perch as well.
Bird is nice and sharp with a lovely catchlight in the eye.
I would smooth out the areas where you cloned the branches out. I spotted them even before I read that you had cloned them out. I would also smooth out that dark smudge at the bottom of the frame on the LHS.
Very nice,
Gail

[Lyle Gruby]

Great colors in the BG that graduate very nicely.
i like the meandering perch as well.
Bird is nice and sharp with a lovely catchlight in the eye.
I would smooth out the areas where you cloned the branches out. I spotted them even before I read that you had cloned them out. I would also smooth out that dark smudge at the bottom of the frame on the LHS.
Very nice,
Gail


Ohh busted. Did that cloning at like 0400 AM, totally missed those smudges. What is the best way to smooth out those cloned areas?

Thanks

[Karl Egressy]

Nice two tone background and interesting molting pattern in the bird, Lyle. It looks like as if there were some objects casting spots of shadow on the bird, seen on the left side of the belly.
I might be wrong, though.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's not often we see this species in transitional plumage, I like that. Nice thin perch, anf the BG is beautiful. I agree with the smudges that I too saw before reading. Try either the patch tool, or a low opacity clone tool - perhaps around 40% (or a combination of both tools). I'd also crop a bit top and bottom for less of a squarish approach comp-wise.

[Diane Miller]

The patch tool, or Spot healing brush used on more than a spot, will preserve any noise, whereas a low opacity clone will smooth out noise.

A great way to see any cloning artifacts like this is to make a Curves layer above the stack and bring the contrast way up (LL point moved right and UR point moved left) then change the mode to Luminosity. Patch or redo the cloning in that view then toss the Curves layer. A similar approach works for cloning in very light or dark areas.

[Ritesh Nangare]

Awesome Bird,great Perched , great BG....all and all great Image.....

[vishaljadhav]

The 3 tone bg is very impressive, lovely bird you got here
You have made a amazing image of this small bird love it.

[Daniel Cadieux]

...P.S. I meant to add that I find the image a tad dark overall and raising the exposure a bit would be beneficial IMO. Perhaps 1/2 stop or so...

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Lyle, love the pose of this fellow, and against a lovely two tone BG. I agree with Dan, taking off the top and bottom wont harm the image.

[Lyle Gruby]

The patch tool, or Spot healing brush used on more than a spot, will preserve any noise, whereas a low opacity clone will smooth out noise.

A great way to see any cloning artifacts like this is to make a Curves layer above the stack and bring the contrast way up (LL point moved right and UR point moved left) then change the mode to Luminosity. Patch or redo the cloning in that view then toss the Curves layer. A similar approach works for cloning in very light or dark areas.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely use them from now on to spot those problems.

[Lyle Gruby]

Thanks all for the feedback. I believe everything mentioned will definitely improve this image and help going forward.

[Peter Dexter]

I find the combination of colors in this photo vety pleasing. Agree with the crop suggestion.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the subject, perch, pose and BG. I agree with some off the bottom and top. Nice image Lyle.

[Satish Ranadive]

Beautiful image of beautiful bird.I like the colors,pose,perch and great BG.

Regards,
Satish.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Terrific image, Lyle. The BG is just gorgeous with all those subtle colors. I like the perch and this the species is super cool. I've yet to see a Vermillion.
I could see a bit tighter crop with some off the top and little of the bottom. And just a tiny touch of sharpening on the bird.
Which park was this?