Spring Fling

[carole wiley]

The red winged blackbird is such great fun on a cold spring morning. This was with the 40D and 500f4 + 1.4 AV at 6.3 1/320, ISO 400. My feet were frozen, my fingers were numb but there was a song in the air to make me smile.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Nice picture, these guys are hard to approach, at least for me. The blacks look pretty good, I noticed you did not mention any EV. Very challenging shot, white (maybe hot) highlights on the wings and a black body. One of those shots where you have to give up one or the other. I like the techs, wish you had more shutter with all that focal length but picture retained good detail - well done.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

A touch more sharpening would be killer Carole! I love the pose and BG is SIMPLY SUPERB! Congrats! The whites appear a little blown though. Small price to pay if so. Maybe crop about half from the LHS
Adore your image!

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice picture, Carole! Great HA, nice clean BG, and love the pose!

It's a pity about the highlights; not sure, but bringing the EV down a bit might have helped. Agree that some more sharpening would be good, and I would crop a bit closer. Well done!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Carole, nice action pose and the BG is killer. Very tough shooting black birds in harsh light, as the whites get cooked and the blacks are hard to keep from washing out. Might have opted for lower EV here to make the blacks deeper. Like your composition overall but could consider taking a bit off the top. Agree with a bit more sharpening. Good shooting!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Carole - good advice above - tough job with the harsh light would try to tone down the hotspots.
Pose and BG rock!!

[Alfred Forns]

Just softer light Carole You did all it was possible here !!! Neat bg What is it?

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Carole,
I like it very much...you did well with the harsh lighting...good advise given...looking forward to your next one...:cool: