Coal Tit

[Craig Brelsford]

In the cool, wet forest atop the Wawu Plateau in Sichuan, hours can go by with little apparent bird activity. The bamboo and rhododendron grow thick; birds can lose themselves in it for hours at a time. When a flock of coal tits appeared, I scrambled to get ready. They frolicked in the branches. I moved closer, approaching to within 6 m. This lad, a juvenile, danced for me. Shooting semi-automatic, I ran my ISO up to 3200 and stopped down to f9; my Nikon D3S produced a speed of 1/200. I managed to get much of the bird in focus; the background, meanwhile, which was only a meter or two behind the bird, is only beginning to become distinct. I derive much satisfaction from this series, for I probably handled the situation optimally. I wouldn’t have wanted much more depth of field than what I have here. Unlike coal tits in Europe, the Himalayan subspecies has a crest.

Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 600 mm
Aperture: F/9
Shutter Speed: 1/200
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.33
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 3200
Metering Mode: Center-Weight
Subject Distance: 6 m
Photoshoppery: I cloned in some of the cool spots of the bill to cover the hot white streak across the top of the bill. I cloned out several white spots on the branch. The white arc above the head shows the dangers of shooting at narrow apertures. In my shots of the coal tit taken at f4, the light reflected by that long rhododendron leaf is diffuse; here, it’s sharp. I decided not to blast away with the clone-stamp tool; I did, however, create a layer and was able to tone down the streak somewhat.

[Mital Patel]

craig this is lovely different bird form your regular waders :) might be hard to catch in the forest it seem. not loving much of busy vegetation in bg may be a pano crop would eliminate the heavy difference in bg.

[Grace Scalzo]

What a tough shooting situation, and you handled it really well. Like Mital, I am not in love with the streak, but I think when cropped to as pano as he suggested, it is minimized.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Craig, Goog forward leaning pose, following the line of the perch. I like the inqisitive look on the little guy, together with the raised crest. If this were mine, I would take a third off the top, and blend in the wide white OOF leaf middle top.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Craig well done with this tricky scenario. Lovely image of this little fellow with good detail, colour and a great inquisitive pose. Agree with a tighter crop and toning down some of the bright areas in the BG.