Red Winged Blackbird

[John Mack]

This image was created at Montezuma National Wildlife refuge in Tyre, New York on 5/5/18 at 7:45AM. Image adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hand held, Small crop.

Canon 5D MarkIV
Sigma 150-600 Contemporary
600mm
ISO 1600
f9.0
1/800sec

[Daniel Cadieux]

A bit dark on some of the blacks underneath the wing, but I love the calling pose, BG, and tiny extra bit of perch that the one claw is gripping.

[Randy Stout]

John:

Nice sense of action with open bill and pose. Soft, non distracting background. Perch well scaled for bird. Like the detail in the feet.

Although you are showing good detail in most of the blacks, I find in general that "black" birds do best in very soft light.

Did you need to trim the top of the perch off, or did it end as shown?

Cheers

Randy

PS: Daniel and I were typing at the same time!

[Mike Poole]

Nice work John, not always easy with such dark birds, but the calling pose against the wonderful BG has nailed the shot for me

Mike

[annmpacheco]

Hi John, Killer BG, I agree with above comments, some blacks blocked, suggest lose the scrap of branch in the claw... Calling pose is the bonus here! TFS

[Robert Ainslie]

Hello John,

I always battle with black birds especially in harsh light.
As Randy commented softer light would of helped.
However a very nice background, and the bird with the beak open as it calls is great.

[gail bisson]

Love the calling pose and the great BG! Good comments from previous posters so will not repeat them!
Nice frame!
gail

[John Mack]

John:


Did you need to trim the top of the perch off, or did it end as shown?




Thanks Randy, It ended as shown.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi John,

Yes, a perfect singing pose and yes, softer light would have helped. As I have been mentioning on the blog recently, you might try adding 30-80 points of CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color to bring up the detail.

with love, artie