A yellow morning

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L
1/1600 sec f/6.3 ISO 500
Canon 430EX -2/3

Crop, S/H, Sharpening in CS5

[Lance Peters]

Hi Ian - lots to like here - sharp as a tack and good fine feather detail throughout , flash use looks good, doesn't look over flashed and catchlight is visible in the eye - which I assume is what you were aiming for.
Feels like it needs a little more space up front to me. Only wish and its no biggie, is that the tail was clear of the rear leaf.
Good one!!

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Lance. I debated cloning that rear leaf and decided to leave it for the moment. I have to check ... I may have a tiny bit more real estate available in front.

[Julie Kenward]

Ian, what a beautiful bird! Nice pose and good eye contact. You do have clipped yellows, though...see how overly bright they are on his belly area? Try going back into RAW and pulling the yellow saturation down some and then see if pulling up the luminance of the yellows make it better or worse.

If you want to smooth out the beigey/pink areas in the BG above the birds head and at the base of the plant, grab the eye dropper tool and select a middle tone green. Then grab a soft brush and paint over those browner areas at about 29% opacity and see if it doesn't blend them in with the rest of the beautiful BG a bit more.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks once again for your help, Jules!

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Lance and Julie. Nice and sharp with a perfect EXP, a really nice head angle, and the bird holding a leaf. What is the species? (Some sort of tanager?) The o-o-f stalk in front of the lower blossom is unfortunate.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Artie. I'm terrible with my small birds. I assumed it was a type of goldfinch, but I'll defer to those in the know.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Ian, It is not a goldfinch :) And there are several tanagers and orioles in AZ that confuse me. When I have a minute, I will check in Sibley.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks Artie. If you figure it out, please let me know :). They flocked like I've seen goldfinches do.