Snowbird

[Mike Dale]

It's a horrible day here in PA, overnight snow, sleet and freezing rain to come. I created a few images this morning using 3 heavily damped flashes. This Dark-eyed Junco is one of the results. I'm currently playing with Photokit sharpeners in CS3, what do you think?

Nikon D3 200-400+TC14e SB-800 and 2 SB-600 slaves all set at -2,0 1/160s @ f6.3

http://mike-dale.com/WebPictures/Junco20.jpg

[Gary Dumer]

Nice image Dale, I think it would Look good in Portrait as well!

[Mike Milicia]

I like the pose and the composition and background.

Looks like a bit too much sharpening for my taste. A bit of a halo and the detail in the gray
feathers looks exaggerated to the point of not looking natural. Also, could be my monoior
but the gray looks a bit lighter than what I'm used to seeing for this species, maybe too much flash ?

[Marko Matesic]

Great BG and composition.....If you don`t mind about croping I think that 1:1 crop would be fine too.
Good job!
P.S. it looks little oversharpened on my monitor too(but just little)

[Arthur Morris]

Nice COMP and lovely tone to the BKGR, but definitely oversharpened perch and face and some funky stuff in the BKGR.

later and love, artie

[Mike Dale]

How about this version without any sharpening at all. Thought I'd try the portrait while I was at it.

http://mike-dale.com/WebPictures/Junco20a.jpg

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the repost better and might remove one of the catchlights.

[Doug Brown]

I like the repost because it doesn't look overly sharpened, but I like the original crop better. Photokit Sharpener is a great tool. I usually select the bird and copy it to its own layer. I then sharpen using Smart Sharpen and/or Photokit Sharpener. I like the sharpening brush in Photokit Sharpener. If birds look too sharp in the Photokit layer you can decrease the opacity of the layer.

[Arthur Morris]

Agree with Doug on the sharpening and the crop. And as for reducing the opacity of a sharpened layer, you can do the same in Photoshop. Lastly, there is something funky just above the last spire of the perch on our left.

later and love, artie

[Doug Brown]

Lastly, there is something funky just above the last spire of the perch on our left.


Looks like cloning inadvertantly copied a bit of the perch to me.

[Mike Dale]

. Lastly, there is something funky just above the last spire of the perch on our left.

later and love, artie

OH! I see what your saying now, I cloned out a bit of the log to the left of the bird. My cloning skills leave a lot to be desired I'm afraid, as well as my sharpening and .... and ....

Thanks for the comments folks, I appreciate it immensely.

[George DeCamp]

Love the comp and the bird...yep, the sharpening needs some work and you would move this up a couple notches!