Gray Catbird

[Michael Todd]

I took this a few days ago (5/5/13) at my backyard set up. He was very cooperative in his posing.

Canon 7D, 400mm f5.6. Tripod. ISO 400, f5.6 at 1/160 sec.

Cropped, adjusted WB in LR4. Shadow/Highlights, Levels, Curves, Selective Color, slight USM in CS6. Back to LR4 for background noise adjustment.

C & C always welcome!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Michael,

I like the post processing workflow. Regarding the selective color - did you add black and gray - the colors are really nice. The composition had to grow on me, but it did. I like the perch on the right - perfect balance to the subject's intense focused look. The background is muted well and the frame is sized perfectly. Like is as posted and you get an A+ for unique composition and an interesting picture - well done!

One more thing: nice field technique with the tripod, the detail is solid.

[Michael Todd]

Thanks Jeff! Yes, I added 5% grey and 3% black in selective color. I appreciate the compliments on composition. I had to work at framing and cropping to get what you see here. This is my woodpecker staging post for my suet feeder and it is used by nearly all of the birds that come to my set up. To keep it varied, I try to mix up the framing. I managed to get several photos of this guy, he was quite the ham.