Common Bushtit on a Cedar

[Terry Olmsted]

I thought it would be fun to post a lbb in amongst these magnificent colorful bird images. These guys really flit around in flocks quickly, staying in one place for only seconds. They are noted for their nondescript plumage :). I think their feather length and placement makes them rather interesting though.

12-16-07 Canon XTi 400mm 5.6L 1/2000s f5.6 ISO 1600 ec 0 hand held

[ashkan ojaghi]

Hello Mr.olmsted this is a beautiful Environmental portrait.. giving more room to show the habitat and behaviour of the birds will yield a very impressive and effective image .. i think you've do it very good but the overal quality of the image is a little low .. have you reduced the noise ? or any other specific photoshop work??

[Lana Hays]

Terry
I like the "little brown birds". I like the setting that the bird is in and a nice pose. If it was cropped, I think that I'd add a little room back to the image and back off on sharpening......the bird, especially is over sharpened.

[Rosl Roessner]

Hi Terry,
what a nice little bird!
I agree, that the bird is oversharpened. I would like to see it somewhat softer.

[Terry Olmsted]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I have to say I agree - after looking at my post this AM. The image is a very dense one and I had to do a considerable compression to get to the required file size, so the quality is not great. But I have revised the composition a bit, and lowered the sharpening. The; RAW Canon sharpening setting is at 7.
See what you think of this version.
Terry

[Terry Olmsted]

I wanted to add - there is no photoshop work - the only editing was in coversion to jpg,
Terry

[Lana Hays]

Terry
The revision is better but I think the highlights are a little hot. I don't apply any sharpening in the RAW conversion but rather do in PS after the conversion and I've cropped and perhaps use levels, etc.

[joel quenneville]

The second version is much better. You might want to burn the the ceder cones to ensure that the bird's eye is where the viewer's eye is drawn. I might also do a little selective sharpening on the eye area. You have the makings of a great photo. Good job!!

[Terry Olmsted]

Thanks for the info and suggestions, Lana and Joel. I will play with the image a bit more. The basic RAW file is clean and sharp, so I do have something to work with. I really appreciate your time and interest!
Terry

[Jim Neiger]

Hi Terry,

Lana has given you some good advice. I like the repost much better than the original. Images of birds that aren't captive and have no man made elements visible in the image may be posted in the Avian Wild and Free forum. I am curious why you posted it here? Also what is lbb?

[Terry Olmsted]

Hi, Jim. Thanks for the comment. I made an error posting here, but couldn't figure out how to change it. If you could do that for me, that would be great. A llb = little brown bird :) I have another very interesting view of the bushtit in flight that I plan to post for comments and suggestions. I will post it in the correct place this time.
Terry