Magnolia Warbler

[Bill Dix]

While taking a morning walk in a neighborhood park the other day, I heard the "sweet-sweeter-sweetest" song of the Maggie. He was in a bad spot relative to the sun. So I went back in the late afternoon, taking my Bluetooth mini-speaker. I hung it near a chosen perch in good light, and he popped up almost immediately. This was one of the first frames. I also got a few almost-perfect side views, but with the slightest head turn away which would upset the HA wonks. My experience with audio is that it needs to be used sparingly, to keep from distracting the bird from his essential tasks, and because the bird will soon tire of playing the game.

D500, Sigma 150-600C @ 600mm, ISO 2500, 1/800s @ f/6.3 manual, HH.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp and sweet. Neat that you got the one-foot holding on pose. That the bill is a bit lost in the left eye patch is a bummer ... I do not like the growing cone (?) in the foreground. Will be right back with an alternate crop ...

with love, a

[Kurt Bowman]

Very nice pose (good head turn) and I like the bit of motion blur in the foot. I agree about maybe looking at a different crop loosing the front OOF portion of the perch.

[Arthur Morris]

This just in :) It held up to the crop quite well.

with love, a

[Arthur Morris]

Audio-related question: does this bird breed locally in the spot where you photographed it?

with love, artie

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Bill ... lovely little bird .
I do really like the strong color contrast in this image .
I am ok with the pose , albeit a head turn might have been better .

Personally I do miss some finer detail in the plumage and the image appears a wee bit soft here on my large screen . Maybe the SS was not fast enough ... as the bird seems to move , looking at that one leg .

TFS Andreas

[Bill Dix]

Audio-related question: does this bird breed locally in the spot where you photographed it?

with love, artie

Artie,

Thanks for the RP. Your crop does indeed remove a distraction at the bottom. To the best of my knowledge Magnolia's do not breed locally. They just pass through here in spring and fall.

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill ... lovely little bird .
I do really like the strong color contrast in this image .
I am ok with the pose , albeit a head turn might have been better .

Personally I do miss some finer detail in the plumage and the image appears a wee bit soft here on my large screen . Maybe the SS was not fast enough ... as the bird seems to move , looking at that one leg .

TFS Andreas

Andreas, I do wish for more SS. The bird was flitting around, as you noticed from the foot. 1/2500s would have been nice if I had had the light.

[Brian Sump]

Bill, this is an absolutely gorgeous canvas. I think the green and black in the bkg compliment the yellow and black striations on the subject's chest very nicely.

The light looks very even and pleasant which helped a lot. Rich tones too.

Do like the RP and for my tastes I think it could benefit from a touch more sharpening. Might be personal preference.

Only other thing is the right (in frame) foot looks a bit odd, esp near the talon nail; is that just a masking defect?

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Bill ... lovely little bird .
I do really like the strong color contrast in this image .
I am ok with the pose , albeit a head turn might have been better .

Personally I do miss some finer detail in the plumage and the image appears a wee bit soft here on my large screen . Maybe the SS was not fast enough ... as the bird seems to move , looking at that one leg .

TFS Andreas

The image looks more than a wee bit sharp to me.

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

Only other thing is the right (in frame) foot looks a bit odd, esp near the talon nail; is that just a masking defect?

Sump Scores, I think that you might be seeing motion blur ...

with love, a

[Arthur Morris]

Artie,

Thanks for the RP. Your crop does indeed remove a distraction at the bottom. To the best of my knowledge Magnolia's do not breed locally. They just pass through here in spring and fall.

YAW and thanks Bill. That is what I figured. I have zero concerns about using audio away from the breeding grounds.

with love, artie

[Brian Sump]

Sump Scores, I think that you might be seeing motion blur ...

with love, a

I agree, but also seems to be a masking oddity or something, similar to the talon in your recent image, which you masterfully fixed.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I think what people are seeing in regards to sharpness/details is some NR applied to the bird? Anyhow, I love the imagine design (strengthened by artie's repost). Lots of beautiful greens and yellows here...and even the evergreens look fresh during spring!

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all. I don't recall doing much if any NR on the bird, but I might have done a tad. I think the main problem was that 1/800s is a little slow for this fidgety bird.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thank you all. I don't recall doing much if any NR on the bird, but I might have done a tad. I think the main problem was that 1/800s is a little slow for this fidgety bird.

You should know .... as the truth is lying in the raw file , if the image is sharp or not .... IMHO .

[John Mack]

I like the perch and the colors looks great. Nice framing. Hard to photograph little birds.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks John.