Cardinal

[Cheryl Flory]

Canon 40D
Sigma 50 - 500
1/80"
F5.6
ISO 640
EC 0
266mm

I have only one pair of cardinals which visit my yard, but I have not been able to any photos of the male at all since he is terrible flighty. this afternoon I tried some of the methods Artie talked about in his latest Birds as Art Bulletin, and was able to get this photo. The sun was going down so the light was not as bright as I would have preferred for a deeper DOF.

What are you suggestions if he poses for me again?
Thanks!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Cheryl,
I like the capture...you have good color rendition...and fine details...your subject should be moved or off centered to the right of the frame, I recommend opening up the area around the eye and selective sharpening it...also needs a pass of noise reduction in the background...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Cheryl

Looks good Just desat the reds a little bit I like how sharp you got it with the slow shutter speed ... good technique Noise wise might want to try Topaz Is doing a great job on the 50D !!! Impressive reduction and doesn't soften the image much!!

[Cheryl Flory]

is this better?

[denise ippolito]

Cheryl, Your re-post looks better-I tried to take out some of the yellow I was seeing so I put it thru LR2 color picker to adjust the color.Hope this looks better. I also think you could use a small round of USM on the face. Hope you like it.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Cheryl - agree with Gus's critique - Denise repost works for me - like the pose and the HA and eye contact. Good job :)

[Nonda Surratt]

Nice out in the open Card Cheryl! Agree with previous comments, Denise's re-post works well.

[Cheryl Flory]

thanks, everyone! I appreciate your help.

[Jeni Williams]

Well done on getting him! Denise's repost looks really well. Good pose and HA

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Cheryl, I like Denise's repost the best. It looks a little less saturated. Lovely BG complementing your bird too. Good job of getting a cardinal, I had/have the same problem too. Tried to find what you were talking about in the BAA bulletin. Could you post a link. Thanks.

[Cheryl Flory]

Jackie, What I was referring to was his discussion and photo about setting up perches near the bird feeders. In this case, not only did having the perch improve the image since it removed the feeder from the image, but it also made the cardinal much more at ease, so it stayed for several minutes instead of several seconds.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Thanks Cheryl, I am happy you were able to make this image, I have been trying for a couple of years. They land for seconds, maybe I can turn it into minutes too:)