This photo was taken in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Conditions were overcast in a dark area of the forest.
My Canon EOS 7D mkII, and EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens were handheld. Settings were f/4.5, 1/180s, ISO 2000, 300mm. Shot RAW and processed in Lightroom.
New for me is this shot was not cropped at all :)
Aside from regular processing, I cloned out a few darker areas in the BG, cloned out multiple catchlights and created a single catchlight in the eye, applied NR to BG, and slightly reduced contrast of BG.
Critiques very much appreciated - Thanks for having a look :)
Very nice Ross, lovely colours throughout. Nice details on the bird and well exposed. I think cropping some of the bottom making it more pano would suit the image better, as the log seems to be too big in my opinion. Although the HA isn't too bad, I would have liked to see the bird looking a little more towards the viewer.
Super nice job here with detail and the beautiful colorful BG. I too would suggest less log as it seems too "heavy " for such a wee bird. Just added a new 7dII , battery charging! so i am encouraged to see this iso at 2000, given the mixed reviews and results of quality loss as iso increases. going to go check that battery now!
Beautiful bird, nicely shown. I'm with those who suggested a more pano crop, I think 16x9. Also in Lightroom try try moving the Shadow slider to the right while watching the image to open the shadow. Thank you for sharing, Ross.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Good IQ, great background. Details look perfect. Yes to a bit better head angle, but this way we can just imagine it eyeing some seeds where its' gaze is at.
Speaking of 7D2, as you know already I just took my shining brand new one out for its first spin yesterday...stay tuned!!
Repost - Red-breasted Nuthatch Male, perched on log.
Thank you all for your ideas for improvement. Yes a little better HA would have been great. I quite like the idea of pano and have reposted the photo here cropped pano, and with the shadows brought up a tad.
Hi Ross, personally I was happy with the OP, if you go with the change of format I might have gone the other way with more log as OP, but less dead space above. For me the RP is a bit unbalanced, with the feeling of the content slipping out of frame.
Also in Lightroom try try moving the Shadow slider to the right while watching the image to open the shadow.
Joe, that would be a Global adjustment, affecting the whole image, is that what you wanted???? Just remember, open the shadows and any noise will be amplified. I would suggest a more refined approach targeting the specific areas if need be.
Nice image, beautiful background and seems to be noiseless at ISO 2000.
Did you use noise reduction?
I dare not to go above ISO 800 with my 7D Mark II.
A fine capture of this cute Nuthatch. Good bg. I rather liked the log in the OP; I found it had some interesting detail. And I personally don't mind sometimes seeing a bird looking off into space, although I suppose a few degrees of head turn would have been good. Either OP or RP, it's a very nice image.
Thanks so much everybody for your frank comments on the repost vs OP. Such feedback is truly valuable to get an idea of different ways of seeing an image :) I will have to sleep on it to know which I like better Lol.
Karl, yes I did noise reduction to the photo (20 on the Lightroom luminance slider), also painted around the bird (selection of background) and put the noise reduction slider full right for that. I too prefer to keep ISO to 800 or less when I can, but nature does not always cooperate ;) I find I can get away with higher ISOs if I do not crop (or very minimally), and if I expose to the right.
Hi Ross, love the forward leaning pose as if he's about to take off. The finer plumage detail shows up nicely, and the colours look spot on. Thats an awesome coloured BG, and Im going with your OP with just a touch off the top.
Red-breasted Nuthatch Male, perched on a log
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