Hi James Agree with Gus on lightening the bird some. Would also consider moving to the right slightly.
Did some levels and shadow highlight. The S/H was set to 35-55-235. Used Viveza and brighten the reds a bit then lower density on the face area. Finish with some sharpening (very little) Should have moved right as suggested !!!
btw the original was probably under exposed some. If the image was somewhat back lit you need to add light. Remember to give the exposure compensation. Might be the most important setting. Also not sure why stopping down so much? Excellent isolation !!!
Al, There was no Exposure Comp.. I stop down because I can never get the DOF , that others seem to get, by shooting more wide open. I see some of the shots and the F/stop is 5.6 or 4 and I marvel at the amount that's in focus. With a 600mm lens if you're able to shoot at a reasonable ISO does it hurt to stop down? Thanks for the critique, Jim
James, more flash or significant positive exposure compensation is a must for these kinds of images (in the +1 to +2 range, usually closer to +2). You shouldn't need any more than f/11 for the vast majority of bird photos to get adequate DOF, and I suspect that f/8 would have gotten you a comparable image to this one. As you know, there is a penalty to using f/18, and that's shutter speed. Had you dialed in +2 EV, your shutter speed would have been slowed significantly (if you were shooting aperture priority). The problem with the D2X is that you really can't shoot above ISO 400 without getting a lot of noise. With the D300, D3, 1D Mark III, and 40D, you can easily shoot ISO 800 or higher. You got more DOF in this image but the breast looks a little soft; I suspect that a faster shutter speed or some fill flash would have helped.
This is a great topic for the more advanced eager to learn BPN members. Thanks for posting!
Rose Breasted Grosbeak- High Key
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