Blue-winged warbler

[Jack Backs]

Something a little different. Taken early this cloudy morning just before the sun broke the horizon. It was light enough that I was slowly driving through my local conservation area without headlights.
I heard the vocalizations of this bird and stopped. I did use audio and the bird immediately flew in. Obviously taken with flash from the window of my vehicle. I am using a Better Beamer currently for
flash fill on overcast days. This was a little extreme as the back ground was 100 yards off. Flash set at 50mm, -2ev. I'm sure some won't like the look but I find the graphic nature oddly appealing.
A composite of two images as f6.3 didn't have adequate depth of field. Nearly straight out of camera, processed with DeNoise AI. Low light, no sharpening applied. Straight size reduction.
Nikon D500, 500mmF4VRII, TC-14EIII
f6.3, 1/1000s. iso1000

[Bill Dix]

I do like the graphic quality of this. At -2ev I don't think the bird looks over-flashed. The mantle and wings look nice and sharp; head and tail less so. Such pretty warblers. It looks as if he is about to give you his "bee-buzz" call; surprised you could hear that faint call while driving.

[Jack Backs]

I'm usually the only person in the conservation area at 6am. I'm only driving 10mph with both windows down. The bird was apparently quite close to the road.

[Brian Sump]

Jack, love the bright yellow subject against the dark backdrop.

Think you did quite well compositing the image, don't think I would have ever known. The detail in the primaries is exquisite. Wonder where the focus point was in terms of the head? I agree with Bill, it seems just a touch softer in comparison although most probably won't care/notice.

Subject a touch higher in frame might be worth a try. Thanks for posting and for the backstory Jack!

[Arthur Morris]

Great pose. Good flash work. Great bird with a great look-back head angle. Parts of the stem look over-flashed ...

with love, artie

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jack ... nice subject , cool pose with the over the shoulder look .
Framing is nice , as is the perch .... simple and effective image design .

Generally I am not a fan of flash photography ... and this just look flashed .... nothing you can do about , I bet it was the only way to capture this image .

Nevertheless worth posting , TFS Andreas

[John Mack]

The bird really stands out against that dark background. Nice and sharp.