NYC Hummer

[Frank McNamara]

Shot in Queens, NY with 1DsIII - 400L 5.6 - 1.4xII - EF25 II - 580exII - BB - iso800 - f8 - 1/500.Attachment 131776
Printed 8x10 on RR Polar Mat it comes to life.

[Matthew Studebaker]

I just love these birds. Great job finding it feeding on a native plant. I wonder if there is any detail in the reds of the flower, or whites of the neck in the raw file? Maybe some selective adjustments in post processing could save it.

[Loi Nguyen]

Nice image, vibrant flower, but i think the SS is a bit slow to get the head of the bird sharp. I think there was also too much flash as the whites on the bird get blown and there isn't much detail on the flower. Loi

[Diane Miller]

The blown out reds might be most directly corrected by going to the Camera Calibration tab in LR / ACR (assuming it was a raw file) and looking at the various camera profiles. Some will be a lot better than others, especially for reds and oranges and yellows. From there look at the HSL sliders.

It's nice to get the bird with a flower but it looks like focus hit the flower, leaving the bird soft.

[Frank McNamara]

Thanks all

[jack williamson]

The HB looks better in the repost Frank, the reds are still pretty blown. How far away were you and how big of a crop is this? What is an EF25 II?

Jack

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Frank,

Nice pose captured. I agree with the comment above about the reds. I would consider a much looser crop around this guy (I assume you have the space)

Miguel

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the angled towards us feeding behaviour, and that must be one heck of a beautiful flower...is it in your garden? As posted the red channel is very hot. Here's a couple of threads found in the "Educational Resources" forum that help deal with that, but you may want to try adjusting the raw file first:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...9-REDucation-1

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...1-REDucation-2

[Diane Miller]

Thanks for the links, Daniel. Excellent information, worth getting through.

One very simple way to determine if reds are blown is simply to look for detail or lack of it in the red areas. If you would expect some, as in a flower, and don't have it, you will probably be able to recover it, but go back to the RAW file to do it. Once it's blown in a JPEG, it's gone. (Like whites.)

The problem is more in the raw converter's interpretation of the file than in the camera itself. Changing the camera profile in the raw converter will often get a good start. It will also often solve the problem for JPEG shooters if you do it in camera.

Artie also makes an excellent point about going to Selective Color and adding some cyan (after you are in PS). You can also boost Magenta and Yellow at the same time and often get a very rich red that looks pleasingly saturated and shows good detail.

[Ted Ellis]

Shot in Queens, NY with 1DsIII - 400L 5.6 - 1.4xII - EF25 II - 580exII - BB - iso800 - f8 - 1/500.Attachment 131776
Printed 8x10 on RR Polar Mat it comes to life.

Nice shot of a juvi male.

Ted