Red-flanked Bluetail

[Craig Brelsford]

We worked well together, this red-flanked bluetail and I. The Craigster needed photographs. The bluetail needed invertebrates. The more I followed him, the more leaf litter I kicked up, which attracted him. He'd swoop down, seeing something in the stirred up leaves; gobble it; then fly up to a perch. I'd move in and shoot. On and on it went. We did circles for over an hour. The tolerance of the bird became so great that often I was just outside my minimum focal distance (5 m). I had to stop down, lest parts of Mr. Bluetail slip out of focus. At f9 I got an entirely sharp bird and a blurry BG. Bluetails are Old World robins. As I shot this immature male, I was reminded of Attenborough in The Life of Birds digging in a garden with a Eurasian robin nearby and theorizing that the fearlessness of robins is owing to their learning how to use large animals as tractors, turning up the leaves and soil. Photographed Sunday in a quiet corner of Binjiang Park, Shanghai.

Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 600mm
Aperture: F/9
Shutter Speed: 1/100
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.33
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 1600
Subject Distance: 5.6 m
Notes: I stabilized the image by shooting in mirror-up mode and using the shutter-release cable.
Photoshoppery: Cloned out a ghostly branch using the fill tool (content-aware). Used recovery tool to cool down parts of the branch. I lassoed the bird and branch, sharpened them, then did an inverse selection to capture the BG. I then noise-reduced the BG. This shot is about 75% of full frame.

[subramanya_ck]

Very natural looking image. Love the OOF twigs. Good you did not clone them. Nicely done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Entertaining read, thanks for the detailed explanation of the circumstances around this image. I like the finished product with appealing subdued lighting, good colours, and crisp details. Very nice comp, and the pose is just right for this particualr pose. I think there could still be some room for toning down the brightest parts of the perch, and I would have preferred the OOF branches in URC not be so bold. In a perfect world the tail tip would not merge with the branch.

[RAM MALLYA]

Superb compo ,BG and the HA

[Craig Brelsford]

Very natural looking image. Love the OOF twigs. Good you did not clone them. Nicely done.

Hi, Subramanya! When I figured out that the bluetail wasn't flying away, I said, "Now I can do my Photoshopping in the field." What I meant was that I could keep working on getting the image I wanted--naturally, which is always preferable. I was therefore "cloning out" branches in the field. (I wasn't bothering to shoot unless the conditions were very good.) Generally speaking, the better things go in the field, the less work you have to do in Photoshop.

[Craig Brelsford]

Entertaining read, thanks for the detailed explanation of the circumstances around this image. I like the finished product with appealing subdued lighting, good colours, and crisp details. Very nice comp, and the pose is just right for this particualr pose. I think there could still be some room for toning down the brightest parts of the perch, and I would have preferred the OOF branches in URC not be so bold. In a perfect world the tail tip would not merge with the branch.

Daniel, hello, thanks for your careful analysis. Yep, I'd have liked one with the tail clearing the perch. I've learned much about "fieldcraft portraits" studying your excellent closeups.

[Craig Brelsford]

Superb compo ,BG and the HA

Thanks, Ram. I should have noted that as part of my image-stabilization strategy I had vibration reduction turned OFF.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Craig, great introduction to the image. How tiny are those legs - I cant believe they can hold up this bluetail. You need to put him on some squat training with weights. I do like the various colours on him, together with the fine detail. I would have maybe blended in the OOF stripes above his head.

[Pieter de Waal]

I like the soft light, detail, pose and colours in this image Craig - well done at that low SS and thanks for the explanation of your process in creating the image.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great shot Craig, I find criticism almost unnecessary, having said that Daniels points would improve - super shot well done!