Black-capped Chickadee

[Gail Spitler]

I cropped fairly significantly, usual tweaking in LR2 and PS CS3. I also cloned some crumbs on the beak left over from breakfast. I resisted doing anything with the background because I couldn't decide how much to try to remove. You comments would be appreciated about that in particular and, of course, all comments and suggestions are much appreciated.
Gail
Canon 50D with 500mm at f/4.5, 1/320 sec, EV 0 comp, ISO 800

[Nonda Surratt]

Aren't they just adorable birds! Lots of nice fine feather detail on the sides,whites on face look a bit hot maybe? The only stick that bothers me in the one running vertical by the tail.

These guys are pretty flitty, nice catch!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Gail,
I like the close up pose. You have sharp details and good eye contact. The background is a bit distracting with the oof branches intersecting the bird from the tail section, and from the middle of the body...need to clone these out and clean the background. This distracts from your main subject...:cool:

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Nice and sharp Gail. Beautiful feather detail as Nonda mentioned. I find the BG busy but you could easily change that.

[denise ippolito]

Gail, Good capture-these little guys are quick! Looks nice and sharp

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Just a thought Gail, if you are photographing on your property would it be worth your while to make some perches. Might save you in post -processing work?

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Gail,
I just got home; I could not make adjustments before when I first made my observation and recommendations. I made the modifications; see if this presents better for you. I cloned out the oof branches, eliminated the noise in the background, and ran a blur brush,adjusted contrast and saturation, and selective sharpened the eye...:cool:

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Pretty much the same as Gus's, just tried to suggest a little habitat in the BG.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Gail I'm sure you can get closer to the little guys, not easy but possible !!

Would like seeing more detail in the whites and backing down the USM. Difficult to remove all the branches and keeping it natural !!! Next time you see a little bird think of this one and work hard at getting close :)

[Gail Spitler]

Thanks as usual for all your thoughtful suggestions, comments and re-posts. Doing a re-post is certainly very generous.
I did a bit more work on the image to remove the most flagrant offending branch. I also believe, more so every day, that I have to get the image "right" to begin with and the pp can only do so much. No doubt part of that is because of I am such a novice at it, but keeping the image 'natural" is important to me as well as keeping at least some hint of the habitat.

I could/should/ might remember next time to at least add a 1.4xTC. That would get me closer and smooth bg if I remember to pay attention to what the viewfinder is telling me. :o

BTW these images of various songbirds are usually taken around our home where we have about a dozen feeders with nearby perching spots, but these critters do prefer to be inside the foliage not standing out where a hawk will pick them off.

Thanks ever so much.

Gail

[Lance Peters]

Lovely Image Gail - agree with all of the above - Jackies repost is spot on for me.
:)

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Just have a quick question for learning purposes, Al this doesn't look oversharpened to my novice eyes. What do you look for to tell if an image looks like too much USM, I don't see haloing here.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Jackie I was looking at the original around the area of hotter whites and the feathers had a stiff feel Looking at the others post they don't look bad at all.

For sharpening I like looking and the feathers and seeing if they are natural. Mentally I do something similar to judging shutter speed for splashing water... too much and looks frozen not natural. Not sure it it makes sense. Haloing wise it doesn't have to have any to be over sharpened.

[Harold Davis]

nice repost gail!! hard to top the comments by the rest of the crew. good stuff!!

[Mark Schack]

I have been doing a lot of similar photos of chickadees lately trying to get "happy settings" for my new lens and I notice something on yours that is similar to mine. Crisp detail on the body but a blurry tail. I try increasing F but my shutter speed drops too much.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to get the whole bird crisp?

Thanks

[Gail Spitler]

Mark
One way is too really push the ISO and then deal with the noise.
A second way is to try to get the plane from the tip of the tail to the head to be more parallel to the plane of the sensor. The image I have added here does that. I think we don't realize just how far it is from beak to tail on chickadees and if we have them basically head on, then a wide open aperture just won't have the dof to cover the whole distance.
Hope that helps. I am sure lots of folks here are more expert than I am and can give more suggestions if they see your question way down at the end of this thread.
Cheers
Gail

[Mark Schack]

Thanks Gail. That is the kind of shot I've been trying to get.