Sparkling Violetear - Colombia

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08-30-2018, 07:41 PM
Dorian Anderson

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Sparkling Violetear - Colombia

Here's yet another one from my summer travels. This was taken at a feeder array outside Bogotá. This bird kept coming flying out from
behind the house to visit the feeders. I was curious on what he might be perching so I followed him around the house and found him sitting
on this great branch! It's almost as though his constant coming-and-going keeps the lichen at bay in that one central spot. I was so stoked
about the perch that I never figured out what the background is. It might be the side of a wooded shed, but I'll never know for sure!

So this is like a pseudo-set-up. He was in the area because of the feeders, but he chose this 100% natural perch on his own volition.

Canon 500mm f/4 IS v1 + 1.4x III on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/320 at f/7.1 ISO 1600, handheld, Processed in LR CC

I slightly lightened the left side of the frame to make the BG as even as possible. It had just stopped raining; hence the wet perch.

I usually hate branch nubs, but I'm really digging this one because of the lichen. I'm sure opinions on that will vary....
08-30-2018, 07:55 PM
Joseph Przybyla

I really like this, nice work. Beautiful feather detail, exposure, and colors. Some of the Lichen might be a little bright, if mine I would try to lower the brightness. Beautiful bird, nicely shown. Thank you for sharing, Dorian.
08-30-2018, 08:11 PM
Dorian Anderson

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Przybyla

I really like this, nice work. Beautiful feather detail, exposure, and colors. Some of the Lichen might be a little bright, if mine I would try to lower the brightness. Beautiful bird, nicely shown. Thank you for sharing, Dorian.

Thanks Joseph! I am aware of the bright lichen, and I've already turned them down a bit. I just clipped those highlights, and I'm not sure how much more I can do - at least with my minimal PP skills - to rectify the situation. I'm sure someone will chime in to offer assistance!
08-30-2018, 08:31 PM
Nikhil Patwardhan

Nice pose, I like the sharp head especially the beak and eye, the clean BG and the metallic detail in the feathers. Did you use flash btw?
08-30-2018, 08:36 PM
Alex Becker

Love the pose, BG, open beak, and great colors. I dont mind the nub perch and I do like the lichen. I think just a tad more NR on the BG would help. TFS
08-30-2018, 08:48 PM
Dorian Anderson

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikhil Patwardhan

Nice pose, I like the sharp head especially the beak and eye, the clean BG and the metallic detail in the feathers. Did you use flash btw?

No - this is 100% natural. Plus, I suck at flash!
08-31-2018, 07:12 AM
Joseph Przybyla

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Hey Dorian, I gave the clipped Lichen a go in Photoshop and Lightroom. Here is a edit and repost. WDYT?
08-31-2018, 08:07 AM
Arthur Morris

The lichens look a bit overdone in the repost. That because I saw the original. And reposts are always appreciated. The best time to tackle the bright lichens would be during the RAW conversion with both the EXP and Highlights sliders. If that does not work, you might try the HSL tab ...

with love, artie
08-31-2018, 08:57 AM
Joseph Przybyla

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

The lichens look a bit overdone in the repost. That because I saw the original. And reposts are always appreciated. The best time to tackle the bright lichens would be during the RAW conversion with both the EXP and Highlights sliders. If that does not work, you might try the HSL tab ...

with love, artie

Hi Artie, when I zoomed the lichens up to the pixel level there were areas that were white without any pixels/texture showing. I used the Clone Stamp at 0 hardness with 40% opacity to build some texture in those areas. What you are seeing as overdone could probably be toned down by a lower opacity. Trial and error to find what looks best.
08-31-2018, 11:09 AM
annmpacheco

Way to go Dorian, very nice.
08-31-2018, 03:26 PM
John Mack

Nice perch. The vertical crop works well here. Very neat looking bird.
09-01-2018, 08:24 PM
Isaac Grant

2 Attachment(s)

This is a real beauty Dorian. Love it. Beautiful details, crop, pose and love the open beak and perfect head angle. Here is my version of this shot. I think the bird and perch have a bit of a green cast to them so reduced it and ran a detail extractor layer on the bird at 15%, then some noise reduction to the background and a high light and shadow adjustment on the bird and perch. Joe I think your repost looks a bit too enamel, especially the lichen. I think what I have done makes the bird stand out a touch more, shows a bit more of the beautiful and rich blues of the bird and reduces the greens in the perch a bit. Subtle but this is such a pretty shot that I think it deserves the extra attention.
09-02-2018, 08:17 AM
Arthur Morris

Isaac, These two are so similar that I cannot tell them apart. If you want to put both in the same pane please indicate which is the original and which is the repost. I am guessing that the ones are the bottom are your repost ...

with love, arite
09-02-2018, 09:43 AM
Isaac Grant

One on top is the repost. Colors more vibrant, the slight green cast to the perch is gone, the blue is more vibrant and there is less noise in the background. While subtle it is fairly obvious when viewing on my 5k imac. Not sure what it looks like on other screens.
09-02-2018, 02:29 PM
Robert Ainslie

Well done Dorian.
Not withstanding any proposed adjustments the base photo as taken by you is great.:S3: