Female Grackle

[Tim Rucci]

Yesterday I posted an image of a male grackle. Here is the female version, also aptured at Green Cay, ten frames later than the other one. I blurred the background above the bird a little more than it already was, and cloned out the end of the branch which extended upward behind the bird in the original. Also cropped some off the right side and top of the image to improve the composition.

Captured with Canon 40d, Canon 300 f2.8L IS lens with Canon 2x extender (600mm), tripod mounted on the Wimberley WH-200, Aperture priority mode, 1/200 sec at f5.6 in natural light, iso 400 using partial metering, exposure comp at + 2/3.

[Dave Phillips]

really a stunner Tim....wish she had a wee head turn toward us.....maybe she's busy pondering.
I like it anyway.

that 300 with a 2x seems like a good combo

[Arthur Morris]

I believe that this is a very young bird. Despite the fact that the bird is looking away, I really love this. The soft colors, the lovely blossom, the sweet BKGR, and the blossom all add to the success of the image. Wish that the entire flower were in the frame with a small border...

[Tim Rucci]

Thanks Artie, for your generous compliments on this photo. I feel like I'm making some progress at this, and I really appreciate your comments, not only on this one but also on several others of mine for which you have taken the time to look at and offer suggestions.

I made several images of this bird and at least one of them had a nice head turn toward me, but unfortunately that one was a little bit soft.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Tim,
Maybe getting rid of the stem/flower going out of frame???????...would help. very nice otherwise!

[Harold Davis]

i like the far off stare myself, tim. the flower helps frame her nice and the bg is great. excellent work!!

[DanWalters]

Nice shot. I like the comp and the background colors.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie, for your generous compliments on this photo. I feel like I'm making some progress at this, and I really appreciate your comments, not only on this one but also on several others of mine for which you have taken the time to look at and offer suggestions.

I made several images of this bird and at least one of them had a nice head turn toward me, but unfortunately that one was a little bit soft.

YAW. I would probably like this one better than one with a "proper" head angle... The rules are only guidelines; we are the artists and need to know when and why to break them (even if we wrote them!)

[Noel Carboni]

Looks like a baby, Tim, with that short tail.

The composition works for me; the little flowers nicely balance the shot, and the bird not looking right at us says you succeeded in capturing the wildness (however used to humans the Green Cay birds may be).

And who couldn't love that color. Beautiful!

-Noel

[IvoZafirov]

May be it is a young bird but it is no a baby for sure. Nevertheless it is strange what happened to its tail?

Nice shot

[Freddy Franzella]

What a fantastic image! the bird, the colors,the detail! I like the way the bird and all the colors seem to come together!