Beauty in common birds
Hello everyone. This is my first post in Avian. I usually post in OOTB and sometimes in Landscapes.
This is one of my favorite bird images, a "lowly" cowbird.
Canon 50D, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, 340 mm, ISO 400. I removed a branch on the left and part of the small branch that his foot is on that came up over the body, as was suggested in the OOTB forum.
Oops I just noticed a booboo on his leg where I removed the branch. Will have to fix that.
Hello Judy.I like the colours and the detail you have captured on the bird, but it is a bit big in the frame for my taste but I am sure others will have a different view, nice detailed shot.
Keith.
Judy, the exposure and focus are good. I think you have the bird a little too large in the frame and the DOF is just a little on the shallow side. If the image is cropped maybe you could recompose to make the bird a little smaller (you may well of course made the bird this size in order to eliminate unwanted branches??) I don't think noise is bad but it may be worthwhile applying a little NR to see if the image improves a little. Did you use standard image setting this may have resulted in slight under exposure.. and therefore a little extra noise.
Hi Judy,
Great job. I always try to photograph the really common birds here as well :)
My only suggestion is to clone out the branch from top of the bird's head.
Regards
A very nice first post, Judy! Great sharpness and subtle colors go well together. I could see a little more room around the bird if you have it, and agree about the branch behind the head.
Johnathan, not sure what you mean by standard image setting...
Diane standard image setting was a poor way of indication exposure setting, I was trying to determine if the image was set to 0, + or _ exposure setting. My feeling was that it was probably at 0 and I would have personally set the camera to +, depending upon how big the subject was in the frame.Originally Posted by Diane Miller
Thanks for your comments. I will address them all a little later after I check the EXIF exposure comp again. I did crop close to eliminate some branches, and also I cropped it 6 x 4" to fit on a note card which made it tight top and bottom. I can post a different version later.
I re-worked it from the Raw image, hope this looks better. I cropped it larger. I think some should be taken off the height but waiting for suggestion whether at the top or bottom, if any. The photo was made at 4:45 pm and had +.3 EV. I agree the DOF is too shallow, should have used a smaller f stop and higher ISO but the 50D was pretty noisy so I tried not to go above 400. I upped the NR in Lr5 and the exposure and shadows. I used Perfect Effects and Topaz Clarity and Nik Sharpener Pro on it. Wow, now it has too much color. Didn't look that bad in Photoshop.
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