Ash-throated Flycatcher

Encountered on a number of these cool and curious Flycatchers at the Arastadero Preserve just east of I280 in Palo Alto, CA. I liked the way the tail to the head formed a sort of reversed S curve.Canon 1D Mk IV, EF 400 DO IS, f/8, 1/1250, ISO 800, 0EV. A bit of work in Aperture, cloned out some of the branches in the lower left. Thought of cloning out more but I sort of like the perch. Lightened a highlight in the front neck area.PS now that this version is posted, the lower left could probably use some smoothing after my rushed cloining!

Nice pose, sharpness, HA and BG, Michael! I agree with you that some smoothing on the LLC. Also a little tight on the right for me. A tough comp, the bird's bill is going into the frame but the breast/body is going the opposite way. For me, placing the bird closer to the center of the frame or even a little to the left of center might work better?

The bird looks good although I agree with Dan's suggestion on placement in the center. Don't know if it's my work monitor, but the very nice color background needs NR.

Agree with more room on right and fixing LLC. Good IQ as well. You must have figured out the PP for sizing for BPN!
Gail

Love the head turn and fanned tail.Pose and crop are great too.

Again, i cannot do Reply with Quote for some reason so a generic Thanks!

I really appreciate your comments Dan, Stan and Gail. I guess I was following the rule about giving some space on the side of the image that the bird is facing/looking. Maybe I followed that rule a bit too literally!! :bg3:

PS Gail -- this noobie is not able to translate "LLC". Guess i will Google it!

Lower Left Corner, Michael:S3:

Duh!!

somewhere in the archives here, there is a long list of acronyms! I will see if I can find it later and get it to you.

Ok

Positioned the bird to the center, maybe not as far as Dan was suggesting but where i prefer. cleaned up some noise in the BG per Stan's observation. And smoothed out the LLC per Gail's suggestions. Better??

Loving the re-post. Sweet!!!!

Hi Mike, I like how the bird is holding on the branches! repost is an improvement

I just love these kind of shots, so natural looking. I like the original post I think the contrast appears better between subject and background, just a personal preference the shades of green look fine to me - but I am not necessarily consistent in this regard!

Much more balanced, Michael!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Brown

somewhere in the archives here, there is a long list of acronyms! I will see if I can find it later and get it to you.

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Well, I can't seem to find the list? Maybe we lost it in the recent crash?