Brightest Cardinal I have ever seen

[Warren Spreng]

Posting this for a number of reasons. This was my first shot sitting inside my portable blind set up about 7 feet from my feeder, and this was the most brilliant Cardinal I think I have ever seen. I did not enhance the color on the bird at all. I lightened the shadows in LR to bring out his face and then blurred the background after cropping out the feeder. That is why no perch shot, I just loved the pose. I also cloned a little seed debris that was on his back. I think I'll turn it into a greeting card! Canon Rebel T3i Tamron SD 150-600 428mm f/6.3 1/1600 Tripod

[Diane Miller]

OK -- very nice! There is a slight amount of grain and JPEG-artifact appearance, but not bad. The specs look good, but what was the ISO? How big a crop?

Color looks great and the BG is a pleasing color! My preference would be for a little more canvas on both sides, especially the left. Easy to manufacture!

[Warren Spreng]

OK -- very nice! There is a slight amount of grain and JPEG-artifact appearance, but not bad. The specs look good, but what was the ISO? How big a crop?

Color looks great and the BG is a pleasing color! My preference would be for a little more canvas on both sides, especially the left. Easy to manufacture!

Thanks Diane, forgot, the ISO was 1600, this is a 50% crop to get rid of the bird feeder and pole to the right. It was cloudy also. As to the background color, thank you winter for the dead grass!

[Moe Ali]

I like this shot, but the processing does show on it. There is grain in the shadows, and I'm sure the 1600 ISO on the rebel T3i doesn't help. Especially for a 50% crop. I noticed you had the lens at 428mm. You should have just went right into 600mm, this would have helped with the improved details on the feathers, since you would have had to crop less. Sometimes it's tough to see the shot until after, and I find I need to keep practicing to improve my "photographic eye." Everything is easy in hindsight

The colour and pose are really nice. The blacks on the face look good on my screen, but I might be tempted to bring out the highlight in the eye.

Good stuff.

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions Moe! I hear you about hindsight. I had just changed settings when he landed and rather than messing with the settings again I just fired away! I'm too used to nebula and galaxies, they stay put and give you a lot of time to think about the shot!