Found this little Chickadee running around eating snow. I thought it would be good practice trying to get a good exposure without blowing out the snow or the White band on the bird. I did pull down the highlights a bit in LR and some minor sharpening. It was a bit cold out 10 deg F, so me and the bird made it a quick session. :)
02-13-2016, 11:57 PM
Diane Miller
I cannot even IMAGINE 10 deg below zero. Much respect for getting the image! Just enough detail in the snow, for me, and excellent sharpness in the bird. A nice pose that says shoot this fast 'cause I'm outa here. Good separation of the eye from the dark feathers. I always try to bring out detail in darks, but sometimes I probably go too far.
My preference would be to clone out some of the grass stalks closest to the edge. A little crop from the left would eliminate some there. The bird looks like it is on the move -- did you get any other frames a split second later? Maybe that had better separation from the grass sprigs and the tail? (Could be fixed, though.)
I'd think about moving the watermark to the right hand corner after cleaning up a couple of grass pieces there.
02-14-2016, 04:20 AM
Glennie Passier
This little guy does look cold. How does something that tiny maintain their body heat and not freeze?
Snow handled well. Agree with Diane about the grasses near the edge of the frame. Nice colour and feather detail.
Diane - How important are watermarks on a forum such as this?
02-14-2016, 10:06 AM
Craig Schriever
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Thanks Diane. I mowed the grass so to speak. :) The next frame he was gone, too cold to sit in one spot for so long and these little birds are on the move constantly even in warmer weather.
Thanks Glennie. Yeah it is quite amazing how they survive in such cold temps. I guess if they keep moving and find enough food to fuel the furnace, they can make it.
02-14-2016, 03:29 PM
Diane Miller
Perfect! What a little cutie!
Glennie, people are 50-50 about watermarks with lots of strong opinions. Most can be easily removed from a stolen image. Some people place them right on top of the subject, in a light gray, but then they trash the image.
Some people use them tor advertising, in a place that doesn't spoil the image.
I just include copyright information in the metadata and let it go at that.
02-14-2016, 07:46 PM
Glennie Passier
Well done Craig, although I think I may have left a couple of sprigs of grass. There maybe some signs of cloning under the tail and to the left of the tail. Maybe a softer brush?
Thank you Diane - I have included it the metadata...although I might be quietly chuffed if somebody wanted to steal an image of mine!
02-14-2016, 07:55 PM
Diane Miller
So would I, although most of them probably wouldn't make it past being badly printed on plain paper and attached to a refrigerator door. Power to the people!
02-15-2016, 11:47 AM
Jack Dean III
Great capture Craig.
02-15-2016, 09:55 PM
Diane Miller
Good catch Glennie. A softer brush is good, or if room is crowded, a pass or two with a 50% or so transparent brush will work well. But it will smooth out noise which can look artificial if the underlying frame has some noise.
02-15-2016, 11:26 PM
Craig Schriever
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Thanks everyone for your helpful insights and critiques. I think I'm going to stick with this final image. I like a little bit of the grass showing and think it adds to the image. But all your suggestions were excellent. :)