Blue tit - Bet you haven't got one like this!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Camera Model Canon EOS-1D X
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/2000
Av(Aperture Value) 8.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation -1/3
ISO Speed 1600
Auto ISO Speed ON
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM

A few years ago I posted a similarly affected great tit, I don't know the cause of this aberration and presumably if the top mandible continues to grow the blue tit will starve to death.
My thanks to Tony Whitehead who kindly pointed out that Nik filters are now a freebie so I have tried Arties 50% recipe on the bird.
In my haste I posted an image a few minutes ago, I have deleted it because I then found this image with a better pose, I have not altered the bill in any way whatsoever.
All C&C welcome.

[Steve Kaluski]

Jon, another cracking image of the species and a unique one too.

The BKG is a real killer this time, (although is there anything you can do with the lighter portion in the middle, be good to have continuity), a good choice of perch too. I might with a Luminosity mask just peg the bright lichen back slightly, the one by the foot and likewise the end of the branch RHS.

My only hesitation is the application of the NIK, the subject looks manipulated, albeit it subtle, it looks just a bit light and the detail a fraction coarse. Even without the inclusion in your intro I may have asked about it. Personally Jon this is where YOU need to 'Customise' things, IMHO any 'recipe' is there as a starting point and you then need to hone things to suit the image accordingly and take ISO too, just my take, other may disagree.

TFS
Steve

[John Robinson]

Hi Jon. Yes I,ve got a few- sorry ! We see them now and then. This one was around for about a year - but most of the Blue Tits don't live longer anyway. A mate of mine says its natural selection- so they can get the nuts out of feeders more easily !!!
Cheers
John

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well John you've peed on my chips!!

[Steve Kaluski]

Well John you've peed on my chips!!

Be useful if you add a critique to the thread too John!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Interesting anomaly (times two!!). I like the light, perch, most of the BG (not crazy about the bright part below). Good pose with head tilted towards us. Nice details and colours. Comp-wise I know you wanted to include the full lichen bundle at left but I still would have cropped there and below for a more traditional placement of the subject in the frame.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Interesting anomaly (times two!!). I like the light, perch, most of the BG (not crazy about the bright part below). Good pose with head tilted towards us. Nice details and colours. Comp-wise I know you wanted to include the full lichen bundle at left but I still would have cropped there and below for a more traditional placement of the subject in the frame.

Dan I felt it would have looked imbalanced if I had gone in too close and I liked the lichen.

[John Robinson]

I put the pic on purely as a matter of interest. wwhich I assumed Jon,s was. It can be removed if anyonen wants to. I can add a critique when I have something to say.Not sure what peed on my chips means but it sounds messy
JR
All I can say at the moment is that maybe the whole thing would be better moved over to the left. That would be awkward I know with the clump of lichen, especially if you have no spare canvas on the RHS.
The bird does look a little bright ( crunchy ) to me.

[John Rowell]

That is a different looking beak for certain, he needs to make believe he's a woodpecker and wear that thing down. Great colors, luminosity and background, although would tone down that light area in the lower middle. I'd be tempted to clone out that one spiked feather or whatever that is on the wing.

[keith mitchell]

Jon it's amazing what nature throws up if you excuse the expression,looks like it will be a hard life for this bird .I am ok with the composition and the bird itself looks good to me apart from that beak of course,thanks for showing this to us.

Keith.

[William Dickson]

Hi Jon, nice looking frame. Bird looks good, as does the perch. Great looking BG. I captured an Oystercatcher once with a beak like this. Maybe they use the extra long beak as an advantage.

Will

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon, nice looking frame. Bird looks good, as does the perch. Great looking BG. I captured an Oystercatcher once with a beak like this. Maybe they use the extra long beak as an advantage.

Will

Will I have developed a theory, I live very near the beach - by the River Dee just below the estuary so this little guy may well have spent some time around there and he will no doubt have been watching the waders (shore birds) so as one thing leads to another maybe he decided it would be a good idea to grow his bill a bit too!

I have attached a repost trying to address some of everyone's suggestions I think this one is a little better. I think the bird looks a little better, I suspect it was the angle of the light that wasn't helping too much.

[William Dickson]

Repost, better for me Jon.

Evolution at it's finest

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Jon, unless you are very confident, a BKG like this is hard to blend, but not impossible, therefore I would stick to the OP for that, but move the set up for next time. Personally I would have fired a few frames off to start with and then look for issues like the lighter patch, then address them accordingly, this is why to me, if there are issues at the end stage then that simple comes down to planning and you know that .

Not wishing to add to the RP's, but I would like to have seen the BT as you normally process your images, without NIK, I think you would have done/had a better result.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Jon, unless you are very confident, a BKG like this is hard to blend, but not impossible, therefore I would stick to the OP for that, but move the set up for next time. Personally I would have fired a few frames off to start with and then look for issues like the lighter patch, then address them accordingly, this is why to me, if there are issues at the end stage then that simple comes down to planning and you know that .

Not wishing to add to the RP's, but I would like to have seen the BT as you normally process your images, without NIK, I think you would have done/had a better result.

Couldn't agree more Steve, that is my normal routine, in this case I had been in the hide for a couple of hours and so the angle of the sun wasn't too good, I got out and moved the perch, got back in to check to check and this bird turned up so I just had to take it. I haven't seen it since but I will be looking out and hopefully a better background. The OOF white/pale area is a large log in the pond further down the garden. The Nik was just playing around, I still have a lot to learn that was my first attempt at using it. The bird in the raw file is a bit washed out so I saturated it a bit and also added a little selective colour black>black and neutral>black.

[Steve Kaluski]

The RAW should, for all intense purposes, be washed out and flat, if it's saturated and rich then you are doing something wrong, but it depends on how much you want to process the image. Personally I wouldn't go using saturation in large amounts and if I did, it would be minimal. To/for me the biggest issue is the amount of Contrast that is in the files as I have said many times before, reduce that and the image starts to retain more 'character' to start with, then process.

Couldn't agree more Steve, that is my normal routine

I know your fieldcraft is good, no worries, just a shame the sun doesn't play ball, very frustrating at times.

BTW can you PM your email, I'll ping you something over.