Tufted Titmouse

[Sandy Manter]

Okay, jumping right in and posting a photo for critique.

After reading suggestions in several places about getting closer, I set out this morning with that in mind. I staked out my backyard feeder setup from a spot about five feet away. Only the titmice were brave enough to stop by with me that close, but that's okay. I think they're cute.

It was getting cloudy, so had to step up the ISO and zoom out a little (somewhat negating the purpose of getting close) to be able to get a decent shutter speed. Cloudy weather seems to make for nicer colors, but I find shutter speed is always a problem if there's not lots of sun.

I cropped the image for composition and to remove the feeder, feeder pole and lots of other distracting stuff. Post-processed in Light Room and sharpened the face a little, adjusted exposure to lighten things up, adjusted the curves a little, and applied some noise reduction.


Canon 5D Mark I
Canon 70 - 300mm 4.5-5.6 IS USM at 170mm
1/100 sec f/5.6 ISO 500
Handheld

Any comments and criticism is very welcome. I hope I included all the pertinent info, but please as if there's anything else I should have said.

[Doug West]

You have a nice pose and the light angle is just right. The Titmouse can be hard to capture
cause they're fast little suckers.

The image looks a little soft to me. 1/100 is pretty slow for these type of birds. My guess is
he moved his head ever so slightly.

If you have a change to shoot again at this feeder, try moving a little to your left. From where
you are standing now, moving left will take out those white highlights that are coming into the
picture on the left. This might also block out the circular highlights to the right of the bird.

Doug

[Sandy Manter]

Thank you for the comments, Doug. Those white highlights seem to be unavoidable when I shoot in my yard, or at least I don't know how to avoid them. My yard is a small cleared around surrounded by trees and no matter what direction I shot in I get those "sparklies" in the background. There's a big lake beyond the trees that adds to the reflections. In the fall, the effect is colorful and IMO attractive, but this time of year it just looks like spotlights on a green background. Does anyone have suggestions on how to avoid this or how to best deal with this type of shooting conditions?

[Doug West]

I actually have the same problem with my backyard. For me I'm always moving my perch,
trying different angles, waiting for cloudy days.

Doug

[Sandy Manter]

Thanks, Doug. Maybe I'll try moving the setup to a different location.