Another Finch [Archive] - BirdPhotographers.net

Diane Miller

05-14-2013, 11:29 PM

I think it may be a Purple Finch, but I'm having a hard time distinguishing them from the House Finches. Several have some brushes of gold and they are the ones that I think may be Purples.

Canon 5D Mk III, 300mm f/2.8 IS + i.4x III, ISO 400, f/13, 1/160. Camera set to M for the BG exposure, subject was about -1.5 EV in the shade, with bare flash at low power as main light. (Thus giving a SS of about 1/10,000. If the bird moves, it's a delete, but if they are still for a split second, to acquire focus on the head, it's tack sharp.) Wimberley II head on Gitzo. Horizontal, cropped on the sides only.

Attracted to a feeder. Need to start getting them used to a branch for a perch.

C&C always welcome.

Doug West

05-15-2013, 12:30 AM

Diane...don't know if you're already doing it, but have your feeder below your perch.
Doing this will give your bird a landing zone before heading for the seed.

Doug

Robert Holguin

05-15-2013, 02:27 AM

Great shot.
I really like the background and perch.
Details are great, excellent flash work, and great comp.
A little more head turn would have been nice, but still a great shot.
Well done.

Frank Schauf

05-15-2013, 03:32 AM

Excellent shot with a great perch.

Jim Thomas

05-15-2013, 04:35 AM

Nice. maybe a bit oversharpened? Still a house finch I believe.

Jim

Diane Miller

05-15-2013, 09:30 AM

Thanks, guys! The staging perch is beside (1 ft away from) a hanging feeder. I have all but one perch on the feeder blocked off when I'm shooting, but they frequently overfly the staging perch anyway. I'll try putting a dish below the perch when I switch to a branch. (I'm feeling like more of a studio photographer here than a nature one, but having fun anyway!) I did put up a branch with a pine cone on it and a small cup of feed beside it and got some decent acorn woodpecker shots. Still trying to entice scrub jays and quails. Probably need to get on my belly in the grass with the bugs and hay fever pollen to do justice to quails.

rajojomanik

05-15-2013, 09:42 AM

Lovely shot Diane.

Yes, more HA towards the camera would have been nice but it looks good as presented, and it looks oversharpen on my monitor.

Diane Miller

05-15-2013, 10:15 AM

It does look oversharpened in the JPEG. The original was tack sharp on the head, but I did no sharpening except the default amount in LR. I did a modest amount of Tonal Contrast (Nik CEP) but that didn't seem to add a sharpening effect.

I've been doing conversions to JPEG with the LR Export function, where you have no control (that I have discovered) over sharpening. I'll try converting in PS for comparison.

Thanks for the feedback!

Daniel Cadieux

05-15-2013, 11:20 AM

Looks more like a House Finch to me, too. I agree a better head turn towards us would have been preferable. I like the perch, and the BG looks very nice with the darker green textures mixed in. Setups are fun, glad you are enjying it!

Karl Egressy

05-15-2013, 12:07 PM

It looks like a House Finch, Diane. Nice shot, sharp, having the right colours and the background looks nice, although I seem to find some noise. You can select the background and run a blur-surface blur at around radius 8, threshold 16 if you wish.

Marina Scarr

05-15-2013, 12:28 PM

Lovely image, Diane. Love the perch and that BG is awesome. Even the HA works for me b/c I like the way his head is cocked.

Stu Bowie

05-15-2013, 12:59 PM

Hi Diane, I notice that you dont have much light to play with according to your ss. I realise opening up to around f/7.1 will give you more speed, but you will probably lose more DOF - its a juggle isnt it.

I only have one decent area to try a setup, but there is absolutely no light.

Jim Crosswell

05-15-2013, 05:55 PM

I like the pose, perch, tilted head and BG. Nice image Diane! Look forward to more images from your outdoor studio.

Satish Ranadive

05-16-2013, 12:59 AM

Magnificent image of finch with beautiful colors and nice details.Nice use of flash.
Great BG and perch.Would crop on both Left and right side.Agree with above about HA.

Regards,
Satish.