Yellow Headed Blackbird

[Derek Griggs]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3513620982_5c2881f95a_o.jpg
Nikon D90
Sigma 150-500 @500mm
ISO 640
f/6.3
1/250

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Derek, wicked pose you managed to get here...good timing! Exposure looks good - the overcast light conditions helped facilitate it on this difficult subject. As posted I would crop at least half the top as the extra empty space up there doesn't do much to the comp. If it is within your post-processing ethics I would also eliminate the thicker OOF area in LLC - easiest using a combination of QM, patch, and clone tools. Keep then coming!! :-)

[Randy Stout]

Derek:

A very attractive bird. We have lots of RWB, but I have never seen this one in Michigan. Was this one taken locally?

Great tail display here, and I agree with Daniel about the exposure. Pretty easy to either block the blacks or smoke the yellows on these types of birds, and the soft light made it work!
Absolutely agree with Daniel, crop down from the top.

Look forward to more!

Randy

[Derek Griggs]

Thanks for the tips, I'll have to take a look when I get home and see what I can do. I took this in a suburb of Minneapolis.

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent exposure on the bird, especially on the blacks - good detail there. I would take off the top, and this is a bit tight on the left.

[Ramon M. Casares]

STUNNING! Great pose, great atitude, exposure rocks! Detail is amazing, DOF is great as well, colors, BG, perch and comp are very nice too, I would only suggest you to tone down the OOF bright grass in the LLC. Big congratulations on a terrific shot!

[Mike Lentz]

The pose and BG are nice! I would crop off the top and dial back the contrast a small amount.
Gotta love lakes in central MN!!!

[David Smith]

I love the pose and the exposure and sharpness look good. I am not bothered by the amount of space at the top. This would be a great front page for a magazine and the space at the top would be for the magazine logo..

Great shot..

Dave

[Jasper Doest]

Awesome pose of this beautiful bird! However, I'm not really sure about the composition, it does feel a bit awkward. I think a horizontal approach would be nicer, to give him some space to sing into and to view the beautiful tail. If you'd go for a vertical one, I'd go a bit wider, again to give him some more space to sing into and with more space at the bottom and less on top.

[Derek Griggs]

Thanks everyone, I'm still playing with the image to see what I like best.