Eastern Blue Bird

[Mike Veltri]

A photo from this week of a male eastern Blue bird. I have this bird with a solid light green background, but would like to know your thoughts on the background presented. The darker green is a set of Pines at the edge of a field where I photographed the bird. Personally I like the fading colors of the BG. C&C welcomed.

http://www.pbase.com/mikeveltri/image/114426487.jpg
Canon 40D
Canon 500mm F/4 IS
Canon 1.4x II
F/5.6
1/500s
ISO 320
Fill Flash -1 1/3

Thanks for looking
Mike Veltri

[David Roach]

Love the pose, details, perch and the gradient in the BG!

[Alan Murphy]

Hey Mike, a sweet image with great detail. Wish for better plumage. I would prefer the BG with less black.

[Stu Bowie]

Super pose, and nice and sharp. I like the BG as presented.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the HA and the perch. The darker tones merge too much with the bird... I think that I would be OK with a bit of the darker tones near the top of the frame, as would have occured if you had raised your tripod about a foot or so....

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful pose, and an nice perch. I personally don't mind the darker area behind the head, but yes it would be aesthetically even better if it wouldn't extend so low in the frame. I do find the oranges kinda dull, the whites on the belly rather darkish, and the eye "hazy" - especially the pupil. I selectively upped the saturation of the red channel 23(!) points, dodged the whites (set at "midtones" and 8% exposure), and burned the pupil to make the black stand out. All minor fixes that add up to a big difference IMO.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Dan, Thanks for the great repost. It looks way better.

[Nagesh Mula]

Its a beautiful picture Mike with a nice pose. I like the reposted version. I would prefer this version because of changing layers of BG right from the bottom gives a nice feeling.