Eastern Bluebird

[Jamie Strickland]

I have been trying to capture this guy for a while, I could not get close enough with my 1D MKII so I took my 40D today. Still not close enough and had to crop the crap out of the pic :(

Canon 40D, Sigma 500mm f4.5 + 1.4x TC, ISO 500, F5.6, 1/400 -2/3EV

http://www.tekkiesphoto.com/photos/532852766_SXBFB-XL.jpg

[Fabs Forns]

Detail not as good from the crop and the BG could use some noise reduction I see you got very soft light, his face could be a little lighter if it's something you do in p/p.
Looking forward to more!
You could crop or clone the little yellow tip directly under his tail.

[Stu Bowie]

Good comp, with soft light and colours. I agree that some NR is needed in the BG. I wish for a better head angle in this too.

[Jamie Strickland]

I think when I exported them from LR to smugmug it did sharpening and thats what messed up the BG :(

I thought I had cropped out all the tree tip I missed that part

agreed I was hoping for a better look but this bird was not cooperative at all, guess thats why they are wild birds lol

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the soft light, angle and the BG looks great, just a bit noisy as mentioned. A better head angle would have made this even better. Keep them coming!

[Bob Shaw]

Jamie, You already know the nits.... the colors are dead on. Go ahead and get as close as you can, of course he will fly off, but he will be back if the nest is nearby. Bluebirds get used to human contact very quickly. Good luck, Bob

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly BKGR and sweet, bird, COMP, and BKGR but the image quality is poor as noted above. Try some meal worms....

[Grace Scalzo]

I think that you are on the right track....just go back with all the suggestions (Including your own) that you have received here in your head and create the image that you desire. It is not easy but worth the effort.

[Jamie Strickland]

thanks everyone, I will have to take some food like Arthur suggested, using 25% of the pic is not the greatest

I did modify the pic again in lightroom and got rid of the sharpening on the smugmug upload and its better :)

[Mark Dumbleton]

Great effort here! Agree on the need for NR on the BG. Really like the colours and BG.