Norwegian Hooded Crow

[shane shacaluga]

After over 1000 of these corvids decided to roost on my hotel window last night, I decided the least they could do was pose for a nice shot

unfortunately weather is pretty grim and light is very bad so in order to get a good shot with decent ISO I had to fall back to my 70-300 VR lens as my usual setup has no VR

These birds are either high in the trees or on the lawn which I did not like to much. Luckily after a while i found this one on a low branch

D800e
70-300VR @ 300mm
f5.6
1/500
ISO 2500


Almost full frame vertical crop. Cloned out some branches on the left
Usual PP with no NR on the bird as I exposed well to the righ on this one
sharpened subject and lightened head using soft light layer

C&C Welcome

[keith mitchell]

Hello Shane,i like this bird on a rather stark BG they are a very handsome looking bird the black and the grey plumage looks very good but the head and the bill look a little soft on my monitor but it could be these old eyes of mine:2eyes2:

Keith.:S3:

[shane shacaluga]

Hi Keith

Thanks for the comments. I love corvids so anytime i come up north I find some time to photograph them. We dont get many down my way

I agree with you on the head being a bit softer than the rest but I dont know how to make it sharper without bringing in a lot of noise in the head area, which is borderline in my opinion

If anyone has any suggestions on best ways to sharpen without making terribly noisy, i would be more than grateful

Regards

[Sandy Witvoet]

Great pose... feather detail on back and wings is excellent... head does need a bit of work, if possible... although I can't help with those techs! Excellent capture!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like this Shane and the high key bg works for me. I would like to see some more light on the head and face

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks. Will see if i can bring out some more detail without it appearing too noisy