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Henslow's Sparrow
Canon 7D2, 100-400II @400mm. ISO 400. 1/640 @f/7.1
PP: OK, laugh if you will, but this is the best background I've had in MONTHS. The only problem is that it almost perfectly blends in with the bird. So, I tried different things to make the bird stand out more like reducing orange and yellow, which both affected the bird as well (so obvious in hindsight), so that was a no-go. Then I smartened up and did it selectively, but I got a reddish-orange-y tint that I didn't like. So I ended up just cropping most of the bg away. Then I saw that the blacks were pushed in a bit too much, so when I brought those back, it gave (I feel) the bird a little more pop off of the background because it's pretty much outlined in black and has black streaks all over. It's far from perfect, but I like to think it's improved. I finished off with the NR -> Color Efex -> Output sharpening triple whammy. What I'd really like to do is change the tone/color of the background, but keep the perch and the bird unaffected. I don't even know if this is possible, and the thought of tracing around that goldenrod plant perch is making me sweat.
The other thing you guys need to know is this is a record-setting bird for my region. With its help, I managed to snag the "latest sighting" record of the migrating Henslow's Sparrow that stood since 2007. I beat...nay, smashed, the old record by one day.
Thanks,
Mike
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Mike, I really like this. I like the colour of the BG. Love his perch. I can imagine him sitting in the sun with all the plants swaying around him. (Small point. I don't like your copyright being so white...it takes away from the image.) I had a fiddle with this quickly and I will post my version if you wish. I desaturated and slightly darkened the BG. I think you better let the big guns chime in here to do what you would like.
Good on you for record!
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Thanks, Glennie! ABSOLUTELY post your version! I'm just a newbie here, so I'm accepting all of the help I can get! As for the copyright, yeah, I agree. I'm either going to fix it or ditch it. Thanks again!
Mike! :)
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Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
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Wow, that looks even better than what I was picturing in my head! Thanks! And thanks for letting me know what you did. That's the key for me: Learning the terminology so I can look it up and learn how to do it myself. I'm going to try to duplicate your fine work tomorrow, as it's going to rain and that's when I start fiddling with my photos :) And I hear you on the voice, no pun intended. I feel like I can, but I know I have a long, difficult climb.
Thanks again! It looks really good. I've never dodged, nor have I burned, so tomorrow will be Day One. :)
Mike
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You're both doing great!! The OP is wonderful, and Glennie took it over the top! I wouldn't try to separate the BG from the bird but a little selective darkening and lightening can work wonders, as you can see here. Having the BG a very similar color is fine as long as it is soft and the bird is sharp (as they are here). And the perch fits the color scheme beautifully!
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Thanks, Diane! I'm going through your quick mask tutorial now. The first time I read it I wasn't ready for it. But hopefully, I'll be able to do what Glennie so kindly did for me here! Gotta love this forum! Thanks again for the help and the comments! :)
Mike
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BPN Member
Very nice image Michael and Giennie corrected the only suggestion I had to improve it. Well done by all
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Thanks, Don! I appreciate it....and Glennie's help! Teamwork! :)
Mike
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BPN Member
And just so I can add my $0.02. I like the monochromatic look and the suggestions. Back just one evening and I'm learning so much. Thanks for the image, Michael. I'm also glad to see a posting that involved a 7D II and the new 100-400.
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Thank you, Jim!
I got a lot of good suggestions on this one, for which I'm thankful. As for the 7D2 and 100-400 II, I'm loving the combo. I, too, am glad when I see postings involving it. Welcome back!
Regards,
Mike
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Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator
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Hi Gabriela!!
That's so very kind of you! I appreciate your comments and suggestions, and your post as a whole brought a much-needed smile to my face as I struck out today on bird photos for sure :) I would be comfortable with an ISO of 800 with my camera, so I can do that for sure. I've never had a problem in the past freezing sparrows at 1/640, but I will go back and check out the rest of the sequence to double check that this frame is as sharp as the others. Sometimes I get these backgrounds like this, with similar colors and tones to the subject, and they just seem to blend together into an unsharp look. That was my main concern with this particular photo. This particular bird was quite content to sit at that seed head and eat on that cold morning and wasn't going anywhere fast. But, anything is possible, and I will definitely continue to shoot with as high a SS as I can in the future. Thank you for the suggestion!
Yes, Glennie definitely saved the day and gave me something else to learn. That's another area where I'm lacking is PP. I'm working on it! I'm praying for rain so I'm forced to sit in and just do it!
Thanks again!
Mike
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Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator
Thank you Michael,
We are also praying for rain around here in SA, but for other reasons: draught, and it is really bad this year. I hope you do get some rain and you are "forced" to sit down and do some PP work, LOL. Regarding SS, if you have the time to browse through other forums, have a look from time to time at those awesome images in the Avian Forum. I used to spend hours browsing through all forums when I joined BPN, just checking everyone's camera settings and getting bits and bobs of precious info regarding PP work, software, etc. Well, I still do
Have a wonderful week-end,
Kind regards,
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Thanks, Gabriela!
I hope you get the rain you NEED as well!
Good idea on checking out the forums, and that's what I do. I also like to check out other people's work in books and on the web, and I've also installed a little browser extension for Chrome that lets me view the exif data (if it hasn't been stripped, of course) of any photo that I mouse over. Appropriately enough, it's called "EXIF Viewer" for anyone interested. So I guess I'm a bit of a camera settings junkie, as well. :)
Even there, though, I've seen professionals who won't press the shutter button on a perched bird at anything less than a SS of 1/1600, to one who has gotten a very sharp shot with a SS of 1/6(!!) at 1374mm, MF, no IS on a tripod. So I guess, photography -- like anything else -- comes in all shapes and sizes and I'm going to have to experiment a lot. But therein lies the fun!
Have a great weekend yourself! :)
Regards,
Mike
