Vermilion Flycatcher

Shot this in Brazos Bend, south of Houston. Apparently this guy lives there year round and has for several years. He's pretty moody, sporadically allowing photographers to get close. I noticed him using a broken branch on the ground for his hunting perch. I very slowly eased into range and sat for about 45 minutes while he caught flies from another perch and assessed me. He eventually flew right over and allowed for a few shots. All C&C appreciated.

Techs:
D7000
500mm f4 with 1.4x HH
f/6.3
ISO 640
1/320

Impressive Bird,
The HA is nice and the single perch with a BG to die for.
I wont like to change anything in this , i am just in love with the bird man its amazing

What a beautiful bird.
I like the simple perch and the BG colors. Hard to go wrong with such a beautiful bird.
If this isn't already a big crop I would go tighter taking a bit off the top and bottom for a landscape orientation.
I have never seen this bird IRL so I cannot comment on the reds except to say the reds on the belly look better than the reds on the head. The feather details on the head seem a bit coarse. I could be completely wrong though and will trust your presentation.
A wonderful shot,
Gail

Great minimalistic composition Lyle, nice HA and such a slim perch. A little soft and lacking in fine detail so I'm guessing this was a big crop. I'd also be inclined to crop to a more wide aspect by cropping top and bottom

What a gem patience paid off, the detail is not quite there, maybe SS a little slow?

Gorgeous bird -- your patience was well rewarded. I also think it could work well with some off the top and bottom.

Hi Lyle.

What a beautiful bird.... I am happy enough with the crop but I think I am seeming a bit of a red halo or processing artefacts above the head..

DON

nice bird and pose,like the BG,its a bit soft on my screen.

Beautiful image of beautiful bird. I like the pose,HA,beautiful colors,perch and BG.
Agree with Gail about crop and would have one more round of sharpening.

Regards,
Satish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ashton

What a gem patience paid off, the detail is not quite there, maybe SS a little slow?

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Thanks all for the feedback, this isn't that large a crop, although it does it have 2 of the D7000's weaknesses working against it. Low light conditions combined with shooting above ISO 400. Still not sure where the "softness" and lack of fine detail comments are coming from. I can personally see individual feathers throughout the entire bird, there might be some motion blur in the primaries of the wing. I can also see the gradation between the brown iris and the black pupil.

Lyle:

The red channel is just slightly blown in the jpg, probably causing the slight loss of detail in the head.

I am also seeing the faintest of halos around the head, mainly forehead and crown, and the halo has a very slight red tint. Interesting.

Cheers

Randy