Philadelphia Vireo

[ChasMcRae]

This was shot along MAgee Marsh boardwalk,Ohio in late June. As it approached I could not determine what it was until it got close enough to see the bill through the 600mm.

Chas.

Vireo_Philadelphia_RAW_0048.jpg
File size: 154KB
Image Serial Number: 000-0048
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Camera serial number: 1120719490
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows
Owner: Chas. Mc Rae
Date/Time: 2009:05:20 14:34:39
Copyright: (c) Chas.W.McRae
(c)Charles W.McRae
Shutter speed: 1/640 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -1
Flash: On
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 400
Lens: 600mm
Focal length: 600mm
Subject distance: 6.0 m
Image size: 633 x 800
Rotation: none
White balance: Auto
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

[ChasMcRae]

CORRECTION !
Late May not late June since its late June now and Im sweltering in South Carolina.

[David Roach]

Love the pose, details and colors on this beauty!!!!

[Grace Scalzo]

Chas, What a nice bird to photograph, the background is a nice compliment to his muted colors. I'm not the best in Photoshop, but with dark backgrounds, I almost always select the bird (and the perch in this case), then select inverse, then run a slight gaussian blur on the bg....it just smooths it out even a bit more.

[ChasMcRae]

Thanks for comments-Grace I have put off trying Gaussian blur on backgrounds(frustration level is low) ,but maby this will give me another push to try to apply it. I use PS but very much a neophyte.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice looking bird. I like the forward leaning pose and the bird/BG colors are complimentary. Noise is visible but not overpowering. Apologies in advance if you already know this but I found it a bit easier for me to reduce BG noise by doing it this way. Duplicate the whole layer, run gaussian blur on entire image til BG noise is removed to your satisfaction, select the eraser tool and run it over the parts you want to keep sharp (100% opacity will return everything hit with the eraser tool to look like the BG layer). Using this method I found I don't have to be too exact in selecting the subject. Running a smaller eraser brush just over the edge of the bird keeps him sharp. I then enlarge the brush for the bigger sections. After all is done, I just flatten the image again. Other ways I'm sure but this works for me.