Nuthatch

[Randall Farhy]

Image taken 10/22/2012 in my yard. A handful of sunflower seeds were placed on an elevated platform near a tree.

Canon 7D
300mm F4L IS
600EX RT Flash
Table umbrella used for a blind

Focus: Back button, spot expansion

Exposure: Manual settings; ISO 400 1/2000 F5.6 HSS
Flash: Evaluative mode no comps.

Processing: LR4 Conversion, Topaz Denoise> LR4 levels (+.71) + adjustments. Selective sharpen on bird. 8.5x11 A/R crop, 27%.

Flash was camera mounted on a bracket, will explore using multiple 600's in a studio style set up the next time I try this. Shadows too harsh. Wanted something to show off the Fall foliage color rather than the traditional Nuthatch w/ bark background.

Thoughts appreciated.

Edit: The halos surrounding the bird are a result of over- doing the output sharpening for web. They're not present in the original. :(

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Randall,

I like the image and it does look over sharpened. The composition works for me generally an image like this is 1/3 tree, 1/3 subject and 1/3 background. This shot extends the last 1/3, background but you were trying to show fall colors and to that end I like your thinking.

Consider playing with the composition, maybe removing a layer from the right moving the focus back on the bird. This is not really a critique more of a suggestion to optimize the picture. What was your distance to the subject and regarding flash why no compensation did you test fire the strobe and base it on distance or feel. Generally I start with ETTL-2 and work up, just curious as to the approach. Might be a bit of over flash lets see what others say.

On balance, the picture illustrates a nice moment with nature and a beautiful subject the strong-sharpening and negative space on the right edge are opportunities - well done - keep em coming.

[Randall Farhy]

Jeff: Tried a couple different crops, shaving just a little off the right created a distraction with the shadow line leading to the forked leaf-balance was better but the distraction was strong. Tried a square-meh. Went vertical, probably should've taken another slice off the top, was just concerned about cutting away too much of the image. Reduced contrast to cut back on the over flashed look. Corrected the output sharpening settings.


Flash setting was ETTL- Metering mode was evaluative-my mistake. Distance 10' +/-. No comp was chosen because the image appeared dark when chimping. Needed the high shutter because these birds rarely sit still and have a tendency to flinch. (not sure what they're sensitive to, but I have dozens of images where they throw their wings up as if about to fly off- seems to be happening during the lag when the shutter is pressed and the picture is actually taken.) As noted, will use a different setup in the future, bare flash didn't work well here.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Randall,

Greetings. Always nice to see a nuthatch especially in a nice pose such as this. The tree may not be vertical but making it so would work I think. I find the light green leaves in the bg distracting. Here is a thought on a different crop:



Some more room on the left and top is needed but the general idea... Wish there were a way to contrast the foot from the bark. It's kinda cool but blends in with the bark.

Some thoughts...

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Randall, really sweet capture and a classic nuthatch pose. Good comments and suggestions above, I would add that being this close to the subject I would dial back the flash to a FEV of -1 or less. Keep them coming!

[Randall Farhy]

MIchael, interesting idea to straighten the tree (trunk is arched to the left). I like the closer crop as it focuses attention on the bird, unfortunately that would be 50% or more for this frame. Tells me I have to move in a little closer. The feet on these guys really are kool,I think the bare flash is the culprit here again, note how the glare just blasts away any detail and separation near the body of the bird. An umbrella or a softbox would've been a better choice.

Kerry- Thanks for the tips. -I'm the first to admit that I struggle with balancing flash and ambient light consistently. I usually strive for ambient light, reflectors when necessary. My flash work with small birds tends to look like tabloid papparazzi material because of this. Am I correct in assuming that -1 FEV here would also mean increasing the ISO a stop (or whatever the reciprocal of the negative FEV) so as not to under-expose the background any further? (overall image exposure was increased .71 in post).

[Jeannean Ryman]

Randall, a nice capture and agree with the sharpening/flash suggestions. I like your 2nd crop better. I can't give you much flash advice, as I try not to use it except when absolutely needed for fill. (not because I'm opposed to flash, I just don't seem to use it very effectively :)

[Kerry Perkins]

Randall, one trick to seeing what your images would look like with and without flash is to take two images in high-speed frame mode. Chances are good that the flash won't have time to recycle for the second shot so you will see one image with flash and one without. For this particular image I would think that you would only need to change the FEV. It wouldn't hurt to have the bg a little darker anyway.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Randall....Iliked this image as soon as I opened it! It does seem to be oversharpened and overflashed but I still like it for the sweet pose and its composition. I liked your op cropping but would like to see the bg leaves a bit more focused and the bg darker in general. Sweet!

[Oscar Baez Soria]

I agree about the oversharpening but prefer the original crop.

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. After experimenting a bit more with ETTL flash and FEV adjustments, I've come to the conclusion that I'm better off going manual under these conditions. Results are just too inconsistent due to the drastic differences in tone value of the environment and erratic behavior of the subjects. I'll post images as soon as I have time to process them.