Pair of yellow warblers

[Enrique Patino]

taken a few days ago during a trip through Idaho. Audio used. I was photographing the bird on top (female?) when the other (male?) showed up. I was happy to get this image out of a few frame I took. Scene was very bright. I tried a few iterations of workflow and settled on this one.



7D, 700mm @ f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO 800, HH, crop from horizontal.

comments and suggestions welcome - thanks!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Enrique,
Awesome to get two warblers posing like this...Congrats! I like the composition and nice showing both eyes quite well. As you say, image is quite bright - wonder what toning it down a little more would yield but that is a minor point to me. well done.

Allen

[vishaljadhav]

impressive composition and great framing it vertical
IQ is nice and BG is lovely
the brightness may be toned down a few degrees to make it more interesting to my eye is my view

[keith mitchell]

Very well done getting these two lovely little birds together, think I would try and tone the birds down to give them a bit more body, that apart a very nice image.

Regards Keith.

[gail bisson]

This is really nice. Always a good day when you get 2 birds sharp in the frame.
The brightness/exposure needs to be lowered significantly. No nits otherwisw from me,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

What a fun image you have here and how great the male flew in for a photo opp. I agree about lowering the brightness here.

[Enrique Patino]

thanks for your comments. The brightness already has been reduced significantly. The result is what you see. As images go, this is a bright one... and perhaps not to everyone taste. But there is nothing blown out - so it stays like that. Thanks again

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome to get two like this together. Nice comp. Although you like it as is the image is definitely overexposed as posted and look a lot better when toned down (and that also brings out good colours in the BG).

[Enrique Patino]

Awesome to get two like this together. Nice comp. Although you like it as is the image is definitely overexposed as posted and look a lot better when toned down (and that also brings out good colours in the BG).

Thanks for your comments Daniel.

Could you please illustrate what you mean by "toned down" if you have time?

and while you are at it, could you also clarify if what you mean by overexposed=blown-out areas? I am not home, but I am pretty sure I checked and everything was well under 250.

if it would help, i can post the original w/o anything done to the raw during conversion or post

thanks!

[Enrique Patino]

I checked and you are right ... somehow the re-size action that I am using or export function on LR5 alter the values on some of the yellows (at least)... it increases the red channel values on some yellow areas to close > 250 in areas where the saved file (prior to re-size and LR5 export) had values @ 230. I use the LR5 export function only to put my copyright watermark. I will have to take it step by step and study these effects more closely... part of the learning process... ;) I don't think I can do much re toning down the BG unless I totally separate it from the subjects and any way I've tried it look to much like a paste job.

Thank you all again for your valuable input

I tried it using the resize function instead of save for web and sharpened using the sharpen filter instead of an action.. now the yellows remain @ 230

[David Salem]

Nice capture Enrique. I like the poses and the fact that both are sharp. The BG is nice also, especially when the exposure is reduced a little more. Try adding a few points of black to this one also.
A photo doesn't have to be clipped to be to bright. Well captured.

[Enrique Patino]

I appreciate your suggestions David and would like to see your suggested tweaks side by side... so as I said to to others, I would appreciate an illustration of your suggestion.

BTW, this is the histogram of the last image as presented... typical expose to the right histogram... thanks!

[David Salem]

Enrique, Here are my thoughts.
I reduced the exposure by a third then added 8 points of black and a bit of mid tone contrast. I also reduced the yellow by 6 points and gave it a little more sharpening. I usually do most of my PP work to eye.
Make sure the brightness on your monitor isnt to to low. What do you think?

[Enrique Patino]

Thank you David for taking the time.

I see the diff.

I tried to import the image you posted to display side-by-side, but it is not tagged for color profile. I could not do it w/o changing the colors of your "original"

I am not sure I like it better. I know you were working with a "worked" file with low res, but overall your tweaks look a bit too crunchy.

The scene was bright. Bird were at the edge of the patch of reeds. the BG is blurred reeds (same color as the perch). The image in pane #10 best represents "what I saw at the moment of exposure" I guess it is a matter of taste as most are saying it is too bright

BTW, I use a 27 inch NEC monitor calibrated with a color munki. That could be part of the differences of opinion

this is the original (cropped similarly) w/o any adjustments

definitively exposed to the right, but in pane # 10 ... I've done some of my usual workflow