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Thread: Northern Cardinal -- Motley Female

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    Default Northern Cardinal -- Motley Female

    These critters are tough to capture around here. They don't like pausing or posing. But I never really noticed the color variations in the cardinals before. This must be a female. I was surprised by the variation in coloring so I wanted to try for a close-up to show it.

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    Canon 6D
    Sigma 150-600 @600mm
    ISO 640 1/180 f/7.1
    Tripod with flash ETTL
    Crop, NR, sharpening and basic tweaks in LR
    Selective dodge/burn in PS to tame the flash
    (Still a few hot spots but they don't bother me much yet)

    C&C welcome, as well as any info about cardinal color phases. :)

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    Nice details in the feathers! I believe this is an immature male.

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    Very nice, with good detail and nice color. Nice flash balance. People will generally remove the second catchlight when they use flash.

    How much of a crop? Which of the Sigma lenses?

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    Thanks, all. Much appreciated.

    Warren, ok I'll go with you and call this an immature male. Nice to know what I'm shooting. :)

    Diane, good point about the catchlight. I was concentrating on correcting the steel-eye and forgot about that. This is about 20% of the original frame. I had the whole bird in frame but really wanted a close-up in this case so I went for the crop. This lens is the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary. I've also used the Sports model. No difference in IQ, IMO.

    Here's an RP without the second catchlight. Little things mean a lot. :)

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    Last edited by Edward Arthur; 09-07-2015 at 05:56 PM.

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    Interesting about the lens -- I've heard the Sport is sharper, especially at the long end. It should be, for the extra cost and weight.

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    The Sport model may be slightly sharper at the long end in the corners at full frame. But who really does that? Many wildlife shooters use crop bodies or will crop in post anyway so that's a non-argument. Weather sealing may be important to the adventurous some. But to me, not worth the $1000 difference unless shooting in abhorrent weather conditions is required, which for me never is. After all, it's just a pleasant hobby. :)

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    Hi Edward! Cool close-up! This youngster looks quite pensive! Love seeing the myriad of colors....perfect BG. WDYT about taking the tiniest sliver off the bottom? Lovely portrait.
    www.mibirdingnetwork.com .... A place for bird and nature lovers in the Great Lakes area.

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