Green-tailed Towhee

[Dorian Anderson]

Brian stole my mountain thunder with his frame of this species from a few days ago, but I'm happy to post this as a follow-up.

This was not the perch I was anticipating when I played tape for this species, but I swung around fast enough to capture this bird when he/she
popped up. I would have loved another stop of DOF to get more of the perch and the tail, but I literally had 0.5 seconds to swing, focus, and
shoot before he dove back into the underbrush, not to emerge again. The face and feet are so sharp I decided to forgive myself on those issues.

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX2
1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800
Processed in LR CC. Did clone out one a broken/distracting protrusion on the front side of perch, just down and right of bird.

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[Volkan Akgul]

Hello Dorian, perfect. bg and bird super. quality inspirational. congratulations

[gail bisson]

I think this is very good. You are being very hard on yourself Dorian!
Nice perch (even if a bit bright) and I like the way the towhee is positioned. The curve of his belly mirror the "sweep" of the branch.
Nice head tilt.
The lichens are pretty.
I know you are not a fan of cloning but I could see a version with the stump on the far right cloned out.
Great bird!

[Aditya Sridhar]

This is such a great bird. The sharpness is excellent and I love the DOF across the body. The lighting and the perch are tough. I think you could tone down the contrast and the brightness of the branch, and particularly the lime green vegetation on the right, to make it more visually pleasing and less distracting. I'm not familiar with this species, but I wonder if there is a slight green cast to the image? Nicely done overall and I admire your reflexes :bg3:

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Beautiful bird captured in a very alert pose. Don't mind the perch at all, and nice lichen sprigs. You have a cloning repeat where you removed the broken protrusion. Easy fix.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Bill Dix]

We'll forgive you this time, Dorian. The head and body of this beauty are wonderfully sharp. I could see a version with the brightness of the perch toned down just a tad, and the stub on the far right removed.

[Jack Backs]

Nice image, love the background. Agree that the contrast is a little to much and to lose the stump on the right.

[William Dickson]

Love everything about this....The detail on the bird is amazing. I would try brightening up the bird a wee bit and that would take away the brightness on the perch, if you know what I mean....

Will

[Brian Sump]

Dorian, no thunder stolen... this is a very fine capture of the Green-tailed Towhee!

I might vote for a touch less contrast also, but man a super shot :-)

[David Roach]

Beautiful view with wonderful color and details. I like the perch as is and the BG is killer. TFS

[John Mack]

It's a nice pose with a nice setting. I like the framing and that killer background. You did well for half a second.

[Dorian Anderson]

Lowered the exposure and contrast on perch, as suggested. I hope it's enough, cuz it felt like I moved the sliders a lot for a little!

Also redid the clone job on the one element on the front side of branch, down and right from bird.

Cheers....

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[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dorian, I like the pose and the fact you can see the feet here, conditions look a bit bright, so addressing the perch and lichen prior will reduce a lot of the brighter elements.

The repost is much better, but the blacks and shadows on the perch still can be improved a lot more, offering greater detail and content to come through, likewise with the subject, where the less contrast creates a much softer/finer plumage. The broken stump is an issue and rather unfortunate. Just watch the sharpening halos around the subject and parts of the outline underneath the perch.

TFS
Steve