Starling

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/5.6
1/1250
ISO 800

I captured this one on the seashore, at the weekend. What a difference a little sunlight makes, to the colours on this bird.

Will

[Karl Egressy]

Great colors and pattern captured, Will.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Will, looks a bit 'noisy' in the shadows/iridescent chest plumage, especially considering it's ISO800. I would tame the whites & highlights, but if this is FF rather than cropped, I would expect to have seen more detail. I wonder if you had moved more to the right (if possible?) then you would have had more of the 'golden' backdrop? Like the idea of a different perch.

TFS
Steve

[gail bisson]

Not sure about this one Will.
I love the perch.
I would decrease the exposure slightly on the entire image. It seems too bright to my eye.
Agree with Steve's comments so will not repeat his good advice,
Gail

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments. Hi Steve, The plumage, as you know, on the Starling, is very oily and wet looking, even when dry. Maybe I over sharpened a little too much, on the bird. It was about a 50% crop. Unfortunately I was surrounded by rocks and sea water, so I couldn't get a better angle on the bird. I agree, it would be better if the BG was all gold coloured. Hi Gail, I have decreased the exp on this repost.

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Will, was the exposure right, or did you have to open the image up, lift the darks/shadows?

[William Dickson]

I had to lift the shadows Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

I had to lift the shadows Steve

Therefore you will introduce noise Will as per in the plumage, hence my comment, but please don't say you used Highlight/Shadow tool . This is why getting the exposure right is oh so key, set the camera to show blown highlights and do NOT enable Highlight priority, ETTR. Darkening an image if required is easier than lightening it.

[William Dickson]

Never used the shadows/highlight tool done in RAW. all advice noted, thanks Steve.

Will

[keith mitchell]

Hi Will,the same as Gail was not sure about this one but could not put my finger on why?think the comments between yourself and Steve have given me most of the answers,also that you have the different plumage between summer and winter birds.they are a cracking bird to work on and think your Barnacle covered rock is so different as a perch.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Will, the light has brought out the various colours nicely, and a Starling I havent seen before. Comp wise, I would come up from the bottom a bit, and take a bit off the RHS. I agree there is visible noise, but nothing your new toy cant sort out in the future with regards to the correct exposure. But you knew that.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tricky one Will, I saw your original post but decided to look again in different room light. I still get the impression you may be able to get more out of the raw file.