Eastern Bluebird in early morning

[Isaac Grant]

Got back to Negri-Nepote grasslands again on Saturday. Still have so many nice shots from this place to go through. When last there I found a large broken limb of a tree and I carried it a about half a mile and left it near where a bluebird box is. Specifically I left near a spot that the male often sits on a nearby power line and sings. Of course I was hoping he would prefer an actual branch. When I came back this time I was happy to find him sitting on "my" branch singing away. Shot taken in the early morning light.

Canon 7d2 and Canon 500f4ii +1.4x iii. ISO 400, F8, SS 1/1250. Tripod mounted.

Converted in DPP 4, auto ISO. In PS I cropped to square, applied noise reduction to background and sharpened. Also I use a tonal contrast/white neutralizer NIK formula as the bird had much too much of a yellow cast from the early morning sun. Also toned the blues down a bit in PS.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Very interesting eye expression, almost as if the bird is angry or annoyed, looking directly at you. Very nice BG and colors.

[David Salem]

Looks like you caught him in the middle of a song. Very nice all around image. The details and colors look fantastic and I like the perch and the nice graduated green BG colors. Well done

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the light and the BG, perch is nice too but for this type of shot I'd prefer the head parallel to the back of the camera

TFS

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the feed back. Yes the bird was singing and looking right at me which is why I picked this shot to post. I would like to think it was thanking me for bringing the branch for him . Arash, would you mind explaining why you prefer the head angle you mention. I have hundreds of shots of this bird from basically every angle including facing me and looking left and right, body parallel to back of camera in both directions, etc. Will post another at the angle you mention but it is always good to hear a different perspective. Thanks.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm OK with the pose, especially the bulging singing throat. Good perch, great BG. I do feel the subject is too low in the frame as posted though.

I've had luck placing perches directly in front of nest boxes (a couple of feet away, and slightly higher) - they perch on them before entering the box.

[Isaac Grant]

I certainly can crop a bit and put a bit less room on top. Left it as a square crop so this is what it gave me. Where I put this snag is at an intersection. It has a bunch of different perches on it and other birds use it. Have some nice stuff with goldfinches and chipping sparrows on it as well. Has a few different thicknesses in perches so it gives lots of opportunities. Did not want to put it too close to the nest for a few reasons, especially since I don't like spending too much time standing near their nests. Now it is at a spot that multiple species will use it as well as the bluebirds.

[Loi Nguyen]

Love the colors and the excellent details. Good BG too. Agreed with Arash that it would have been more ideal had the bird head is more parallel to the camera, but it is still a fine frame. Loi

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks for the feed back. Yes the bird was singing and looking right at me which is why I picked this shot to post. I would like to think it was thanking me for bringing the branch for him . Arash, would you mind explaining why you prefer the head angle you mention. I have hundreds of shots of this bird from basically every angle including facing me and looking left and right, body parallel to back of camera in both directions, etc. Will post another at the angle you mention but it is always good to hear a different perspective. Thanks.

have you checked Artie's article about HA fine points? it explains this concept very well

one quick answer is that with head parallel to the back of the camera the eye will look more circular and thus more pleasing, when the head has both a yaw and pitch angle like the example above the eye looks a bit distorted.

best

[Isaac Grant]

Have not read it but would love to. Could you post a link to it? Very much appreciated.