Robin at the Fountain

In February this year I visited the Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Texas Panhandle, about 30 miles south of Amarillo. Behind the trading post, local birders and park employees have constructed a blind with suet and seed feeders and a water fountain. In desert-like country, a water source will, of course, attract birds. The place is abuzz with small birds in an easy-to-photograph setting. The birds last each morning until about 11:00 when the wild turkeys arrive.

Attachment 168695

Canon 5D IV, 600mm f/4 II, 1.4X TC III for 840mm. Tripod mounted. Evaluative metering, AI Servo, AF single/four point surround. In LR I changed exposure by sliding the black slider to darker. Darkened the light area behind the bird's bum. In PS, I used NIK dFin for NR on the background. Sharpened the bird with unsharp mask, selectively sharpened the upper wing and head, and further sharpened around the eye. That brings up some concerns. Do you think there is some over sharpening? What about the lighter area in the lower left?

I'm glad to be back and am eager for your C&C.

Jim second try, wrong button hit. I'm so good with digital :bg3:
I'm glad your back and have always been inspired by your frames,this is lovely Jim thank you for the back story. Jim maybe it's a fault of mine I'm not so easily distracted by BKGs etc as maybe I should be The brights are not too bright for me,I love the ripples round the feet the pastel greys set off by the red oranges of the subject,although I know not your robin jin I love the way the colours work here.

Jim talking tiny bits nuances,I'd like a sliver more RHS to look into , I like the face eye brightness and feel unable to give other than a learner guy's opinion on sharpness. But it doesn't look crunchy to me or can I see halos ect
I find your image lovely Jim

happy easter

stu

Hello, Stu. Thanks for the kind words. One comment: When you're writing like this, you don't need to cut it off so quickly.

I think you might be correct about the crop. I'm attaching an export of the original and one showing more on the RHS. What do you think?

Attachment 168698

Attachment 168699

These are not processed except for the crop on one image.

Jim,letters are a fight for me,as someone that has cared for others with real hard core problems it'll never be more than a frustration to me. But it does mean my comments oft time out here and I have to rewrite that second version is never the same as the first
Anyway to the far more import matter of your frame:bg3::Yes the second crop I much prefer,it's only a bit Jim but it does feel better to me. I've long admired the detail of thought applied to creating images here sometime it feels these little nits are silly to mention,but they do make a difference.

Lovely image Jim,could you pop the techs up please i'm curious ?

take care

stu

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuart Philpott

Jim,letters are a fight for me,as someone that has cared for others with real hard core problems it'll never be more than a frustration to me. But it does mean my comments oft time out here and I have to rewrite that second version is never the same as the first
Anyway to the far more import matter of your frame:bg3::Yes the second crop I much prefer,it's only a bit Jim but it does feel better to me. I've long admired the detail of thought applied to creating images here sometime it feels these little nits are silly to mention,but they do make a difference.

Lovely image Jim,could you pop the techs up please i'm curious ?

take care

stu

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Stu, I very much appreciate your comments, both the earlier and the ones about the cropping. I was joking about the first one, encouraging you to say more nice things! And the cropping? I like your idea. I tend to squeeze it a bit, and will take a closer look at that going forward. I not only appreciate your comments, but am considering changes. Many thanks.

Glad to see you taking the plunge and posting some images Jim! Sharpening looks good on my monitor. I like Stu's idea about adding a bit of canvas on the right. I'd be inclined to further darken the bright area of the BG.

Jim, I would like to see it a bit higher in frame... but exposure, sharpness, BG, HA all look good.
Nice Job.

-Tim

Doug Brown and Tim Folz​, thanks for the comments. I'm in the beginning stage of reprocessing my favorite images. These ideas are going to help. It's good to be back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Keener

Stu, I very much appreciate your comments, both the earlier and the ones about the cropping. I was joking about the first one, encouraging you to say more nice things! And the cropping? I like your idea. I tend to squeeze it a bit, and will take a closer look at that going forward. I not only appreciate your comments, but am considering changes. Many thanks.

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Don't worry Jim all is well,the sad bit is you did have more lovely comments which didn't come out second time, due to my failings:2eyes2::bg3:. My apologies Jim , I knew you were grateful buddy,just missed the humour, which sailed over my head at around 50,000feet:bg3:

Heyho, Happy easter mate, it is cool to see you back:wave:

Jim a superb capture of a bird so common we take for granted. I really like the way the lighting falls on the robin. The water and rock add to it. Nice image really captured my eye. Just popped off the screen when I first saw it. Thanks for posting.

Thank you, Kevin.