Crimson Rosella

[Frank McKernan]

Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans)
NIKON D3200
Lense Tamron 150-600
ISO 1250
1/500 sec. f/6.3 600mm
Slight adjustments in camera RAW. clarity, vibrance, sharpen. Open in photoshop, crop. resize and sharpen again.
This shot was taken at the back of our garden the bird is feasting on almonds.

[Diane Miller]

I beautiful bird! Would have been better to include all of the tail, or the virtual space for it even if it is hidden. The quantity of the leaves are a bit of a distraction; I would have preferred to rotate the camera to a vertical orientation, or at least to aim just a little lower.

How are you setting the autofocus points? It looks as if the focus may have been more on the leaves than the bird, which is a bit soft. The best results will always be obtained with setting one AF point and having it on the bird. (That isn't always easy, but it is so worthwhile.) With several points selected, a camera will choose to focus on the closest objects, which in this case are the leaves.

[Glennie Passier]

Hello Frank and welcome. You have come to the right place to learn.

Diane has mentioned everything. I might have gone for a smaller crop. The colours look good. If these parrots are coming to eat your almonds (OMG!!) then maybe you could set up a feeder with no distracting leaves or branches.

[Frank McKernan]

Thanks Diane for your advice. I have been using dynamic focus mistakenly trying to edge my bets if the bird took off. I will set to one point.
Hi Glenie, thanks for the welcome and advice. I have set up a feeder but the birds are spoilt for choice they are not interested in it. We have had the Crimsons, Easterns,Rainbows,Galahs,Yellowtail Black Cockies and Sulphur Crested Cockies in the almonds for the last few week.
Cheers Frank.

[gail bisson]

Welcome Frank!
Sounds like you have a great garden!
The first thing that I notice is that you have cut off the tail which is unfortunate.
The leaves are quite distracting and I almost missed noticing the almond in the rosella's foot.
You could minimize the distracting BG by cropping a s a vertical or shooting in vertical mode.
I would sharpen the rosella as it is a very bit soft to my eye.
Looking forward to more pics from Oz,
Gail
PS. Just read Diane's critique and apologize for repeating her recommendations!!

[Frank McKernan]

Hi Gail,
There is no need to apologize for repeating what Diane said I need it drummed in. It is great to get the feed back.
Thanks Frank

[Jim Keener]

Beautiful bird. Are you considering allowing photo tours in your garden? Just kidding. I like what I've read so far, and wonder if some lightening around the eye might be appropriate. I could be off base about that.

[Frank McKernan]

Thanks Jim you could be correct about the eye I am happy to receive any advice. Re our garden we are lucky that our house and quite a few other houses back onto quite a large area of land that can never be built on but we as residents are allowed to plant on it for a certain distance from our boundry. Behind the house two doors from us is a huge flowering gum tree that has had hundreds of Musk Lorikeets in it everyday for at least the last three weeks. We have the almond trees and a apricot and other people have different fruit trees.
Cheers Frank.

[Diane Miller]

Good idea from Jim -- a little brightening around an eye is usually an excellent idea.

Sounds like you have a paradise there -- we definitely expect to see lots of images!

[Frank McKernan]

Thanks for Diane I will make sure i pay particular attention to the eyes in future. I will do my best with the images.

[Diane Miller]

Actually, you can pay attention to the eyes "in the past" as that's a post processing step. Not usually a lot you can do about it at capture.

http://www.dianedmiller.com/00tutorials/Virtual-Fill-Flash.pdf

[Frank McKernan]

Sorry Diane, that is what i meant, i did not make myself clear.

[Diane Miller]

It's always fair to post a "State II" -- a reworked version. What we can do in post is almost as important to me as what we can do in the field.

[Frank McKernan]

I have not had the chance to rework anything the last few days we have had people staying with us.
Vertical crop and lightened up around the eyes with the sponge tool in PS.
Cheers Frank158054

[Diane Miller]

That works! Always happy to see a repost!

If it were me, I'd take a little more off the top, to balance the somewhat close crop on the bottom. (Not quite that much, but a little.) It would remove the interesting stuff and bright sky at the top and keep the bird as more the point of interest.

[Frank McKernan]

Thanks Diane, Slight crop.
Cheers Frank.

158067

[Diane Miller]

That does it for me, but what do you think? (And everyone else!)

[Frank McKernan]

Yes it works for me.

[Glennie Passier]

Well done Frank! It looks so much better. The bird is certainly the centre of attention.

Don't you hate when you get visitors and can't get near your camera or BPN! :bg3:

[Frank McKernan]

Thanks Glennie.
I don't mind visitors if they stay for less than an hour but days it's just not on.:wave: