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Thread: Not me, You try it!

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    Default Not me, You try it!

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    These two young Western Bluebirds landed on this Mountain Ash branch (a set up placed near a water source) and had to try the berries to see if they were ripe (they were not). Cropped about 5% from top and right.

    Nikon D3S, 500mm f4 plus 1.4 converter for 700 mm
    ISO 1000, f7.1, 1/800 sec
    Manual Exposure

  2. #2
    Ofer Levy
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    An impressive image! Birds look great - sharp with excellent detail. Not crazy about the perch though - a bit too busy. Would prefer a more simple and less dominant look.

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Hi Laurie,
    You really nailed this one1 I love it.
    Both birds are tack sharp and I like the perch and that pop of red provided by the berries. Excellent IQ
    Lovely BG.
    If I was to be really nitpicky I would wish that the leaf in RLC was not there.
    Well done!!
    Gail

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    Excellent shot! Both birds are sharp as a tack. Love the background and since this was not a set up I am good with the perch. Great job.

    Gary.

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    I'm not a fan of set-ups, Laurie, but I like what you've done here. I like the busy-ness very much and the birds are terrific...to my eye this is a good-natured and humorous image! Plenty to like here...

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    I love the birds and the berries, but the perch is a bit busy for me. Kind of interferes with your beautiful subjects.

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    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    Birds are very sharp, lit very well and exposed perfect . I like the perch but might try to get rid of the leaf on the left. Well done.

    David

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    Magnificent image with apt title.I love the birds with nice colors, great details and sharpness.
    I like the perch with red berries and nice BG.

    Regards,
    Satish.

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    I think the perch is fine in terms of how busy it is, but it seems unbalanced to me. I'd have gone with more leafage to the right rather than removing the left, personally. But don't make it obviously symmetrical.

    At the moment the perch seems like it doesn't know if it's trying to be a bare branch or a homely bough.

    Do you photograph this kind of setup often, or was it a one off?

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    The peach -

    I have photographe juvenile blue birds often and I wanted to get them on something other than a bare perch. I chose Mountain Ash because it is a natural perch for them that I hoped would get me some interaction between the birds. I used a couple of Mountain Ash perches - the other one did not have the moss and had lots of berries. This was the only one that two blue birds landed on and most of the berries had already been picked off before they landed.

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    BPN Member Tony Whitehead's Avatar
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    Lovely and sharp, Laurie. For my taste a simpler perch would be preferable. If mine I would darken down the brighter areas of BG a little. The berries and interaction are great.
    Tony Whitehead
    Visit my blog at WildLight Photography for latest news and images.

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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    I reprocessed the photo and cleaned up the perch as much as I could to simplify it.

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    BPN Member Tony Whitehead's Avatar
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    That's some serious pruning! Looks good.
    This is what I had in mind re the BG - darkened it slightly with Viveza and then masked the birds.Name:  _DSC6285ae.jpg
Views: 96
Size:  216.2 KB
    Last edited by Tony Whitehead; 08-05-2012 at 11:31 PM. Reason: added to post and attached edited image
    Tony Whitehead
    Visit my blog at WildLight Photography for latest news and images.

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    BPN Viewer Giuseppe Varano's Avatar
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    Really a gorgeous image with both birds in focus. Very nice the comp the clean bg and perch.
    Last edited by Giuseppe Varano; 08-05-2012 at 11:50 PM.

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    I rarely like this. And the perch doesn't me at all.
    Creative and the birds look great.
    Dan Kearl

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Laurie, I like how both Bluebirds are facing each other, both sharp, with excellent detail. I like the BG, and Im actually fine with the perch in your OP.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Sorry Laurie, I logged out before I read my post.
    I meant I really like this, not rarely.
    I like the perch also.
    **** IPads, I hate typing on them!
    Dan Kearl

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    Wonderful image, engaging on several levels, technically solid.
    The OP was A-OK with me, just in regards to light quality, a little
    fill flash would have been optimal imo to even out some of the
    contrasty shadows caused by the slightly harsh light source...

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    11/10 in my books, superb in every way including natural perch.......change nothing !

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    Your pruning allows me to enjoy the birds much more! Really great having both of the birds sharp and in focus.

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    I like the cleaned up perch but more space as you have in the OP. (don't you love getting a ton of varying opinions?) I think it's a very special capture, just beautiful, love the colors, the poses of the birds facing each other, and the berries.

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    I like the images and the reposts. What strikes me the most is the interaction between the birds. That draws my eyes and so the business of the perch is less noticeable than it would normally be.

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    Excellent Pose and light, good exposure control, nice comp and good ambient.

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    Thank you for your comments and suggestions, as always I will try to make improvements to future photos.

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