Yellow Hammer

[John Robinson]

Its puddle time again. Amazing year with trees breaking leaf!!
This species has certainly decreased f late.
D200
Nikor 70-300 mm
125th @f8
1000 ISO
Neatmage/PP Paint shop pro.
White feathers in BG removed.
Bibble pro for CB and Image guru for Dynamic lighting.(Should have done irt in camera !!!)
Cheers
JohnR

[christopher galeski]

Lovely capture John.nice pose,some nice detail in the bird,sadly last time I saw any in my area,was a pair about 8years ago,and they did not stay.

[Randy Stout]

John:

The bird really pops in his bright yellow from the more somber foreground. Effective DOF, helped by your f/stop and DX sensor. I like the positioning of elements in the frame.

The yellows on the back of his head just below eye level are a bit overexposed, with loss of feather detail. I would be tempted to remove the reflection of the leaf in the bright puddle just in front of his neck. It is of moderate contrast and close to the head, so it is more distracting than need be, or in fact would be, anywhere else in the frame.

Just for my education, which version of the 70-300 did you use. VR or the earlier one?

Cheers

Randy

[John Robinson]

Thanks both.
Hi randy
Its the vr version- but I don't always have it on and I use a bean bag on the hide shelf.. It may be wrong but I,ve been told that VR reduces quality when not needed ?
Cheers
John
PS I love that lens- quite cheap too /

[Karl Egressy]

Nice looking back pose and nice colors in the bird, John.
I would loosely select the area with green leaves and decrease the yellow in them as they compete with the bird.
I also would clone out the little yellowish branch at top right.

[John Robinson]

Thanks all. Few things taken on board.
Cheers
John

[William Dickson]

Lovely looking image John, the repost does make a difference. The yellows look great on this beautiful Bunting.

Will

[gail bisson]

The repost looks good and addresses my biggest issue when I saw the OP which was the whitish reflection in the water in front of the bird.
Great head turn.
Nice to see you posting again from your little puddle!
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, that water highlight fix on the repost really does make a good positive difference. What a cute bird in a pretty setting.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great looking bird, John. Great detail on the nicely turned head. Repost worked out beautifully.



Geoffrey