Lazuli Bunting calling in the berry bush

[Brian Sump]

187337

I had been wanting to get this beautiful bird at my mountain spot. Captured about 7am, which is just when the sun crests the mountain (def later than on level horizon).

I cropped to about 4k pixels. Could probably bring in some more but I left the frame here intentionally due to the framing of the berry bushes and the fact it's a pretty small bird anyhow.

D850
600mm + 1.4
Handheld
ISO 1000
1/1250
f7.1

LR and PS, DNAI curves and sat usual. One tiny twig extension evicted otherwise nothing done to bkg except reduce brightness and global curves and sat.

[Bill Dix]

That is one beautiful bird, caught in a great singing pose in lovely light. I could also envision a version without the oof foliage on either side, but it's fine with me as posted. I'd love to see one of these beauties some day.

[David Roach]

Simply sublime, both subject and canvas overall. TFS

[William Dickson]

Hi Brian...this is yer best one for me...Beautiful looking bird and you captured it well. Nice colours throughout the image and lovely detail on the bird. Love the calling pose. Crop wise....I would try a wee bit from the bottom, I think it helps the shooting angle.

Well done

Will

[Arthur Morris]

Great singing posts and sharp. I am not that wild about the bush. The WHITEs look very bright to me -- nothing nw there :) A half step to your right might have improved it ...

with love, artie

[Brian Sump]

Great singing posts and sharp. I am not that wild about the bush. The WHITEs look very bright to me -- nothing nw there :) A half step to your right might have improved it ...

with love, artie

Artie, you crack me up.

I used a new process on the whites and they are exactly to my liking on my monitor. Nothing even above 225 in RGB that I can see. In fact they are bordering gray. Are you on MacBook? I have my NEC tethered to my 2019 MacBook pro so I can see both simultaneously.

What would you hope to be achieved moving one step to right? FWIW, the bushes are one of the parts I loved most but that's why art is so great :-)

Thanks for the thoughts, love ya man.

[Brian Sump]

Bill, David and Will thanks for the thoughts and compliments!

[Brian Sump]

A crop for those who desire it

187343

[dankearl]

Crop is better, nice.

[Colin Driscoll]

Much prefer the crop because it features the bird better as the main subject of the image.
A very striking bird with bits of blue bleeding in a few places.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very Nice Colors and Background. When I looked at the image, it looked bright to me, probably kind of spot light effect with background being darker tone.

I like the image.

TFS

[John Mack]

Beautiful bird. Love the pose and the setting.

[Brian Sump]

Thank you all

[Robert Kimbrell]

A Great pose on this beautiful bird. The blues are stunning, The crop works better for me.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Brian, stunning bird, love the colors. I prefer the second post the best. The head of the bird is slightly angles away, that is why Artie said that a half a step to your right would have improved the image. Thank you for sharing.

[Brian Sump]

Thanks for the love Robert and Joe.