Singing Indigo Bunting

[Isaac Grant]

This Indigo Bunting was photographed at Negri-Nepote Grasslands in New Jersey. It was perching atop of a small snag and singing as loud as it could.

Canon 7d2 and Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. F6.3, ISO 640, SS 1/2000. Single focus point just below the eye. Auto ISO.

Converted in DPP 4. In PS I cropped as square, applied noise reduction to background and lowered the exposure and contrast to background as well.

[Arthur Morris]

Nice singing pose and I am fine with the SQ crop but the SAT hit me in the face. Decrease the BLUE SAT -15, the CYAN SAT -25, and the YELLOW SAT -5. I think that the repost looks great without the garishness of the OP.

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[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Artie. I appreciate the critique and the repost as well. I took this photo early in the morning and the bird was glowing blue in the direct sun. Honestly had a hard time with the color which is why I posted this shot. While I agree that my shot is oversaturated, it is how the bird looked in the early morning direct sun. Those iridescent feathers have a certain shine to them that is not evident in the repost. Your post looks better but is not how the bird looked in reality. This is an issue I often struggle with. I take it that it is better to tone than to leave it as my eye saw it. Good lesson for me. . Thanks.

[Randy Stout]

Issac:

It is a challenge sometimes to balance your recollection of the scene, vs. what people expect to see. Plus, different monitors render the colors diff., even if both are calibrated. I often will process the image, put it aside for a day or two, and revisit it before posting. I freq. will make minor changes before actually posting it.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Randy makes a very good point, and I have had this issue myself photographing owls in sunset light. Both versions look pretty good to me although I find Artie's version probably a tad stronger even though I wasn't there. The colors are here are simply lovely and always happy to see a singing pose.

[MiroslavMaric]

Like the pose, details, BG and subject balance. Like the both versions, great discussion! TFS.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie. I appreciate the critique and the repost as well. I took this photo early in the morning and the bird was glowing blue in the direct sun. Honestly had a hard time with the color which is why I posted this shot. While I agree that my shot is oversaturated, it is how the bird looked in the early morning direct sun. Those iridescent feathers have a certain shine to them that is not evident in the repost. Your post looks better but is not how the bird looked in reality. This is an issue I often struggle with. I take it that it is better to tone than to leave it as my eye saw it. Good lesson for me. . Thanks.

Do understand that images made in richly colored light are often over-saturated as they come out of the camera. In the long run, you are the artist :)

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[Isaac Grant]

Yes I understand. It's just a silly issue that I often go back and forth on. Probably lowered the saturation and then raised it again about 20 times. Ultimately decided to leave about the way I saw it but I do understand your point and will defer to your experience and expertise. Thanks again for the explanation.

[Isaac Grant]

I waited about a week to post this. Maybe more. Replied to Artie above that I kept going back and looking at it and both made sense in different ways to me. But this is an issue I need to learn more about. I do 99.99% of my shooting in direct early morning and late evening light. When shooting richly colored birds in this light this is an issue I am up against fairly often. So the information is greatly appreciated. I even looked at this shot on my phone as well trying to decide if it was too saturated prior to posting. I have more shots of this bird on plenty of perches. Will try and get the color more accurate on the next one.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. When I opened the original post I felt that I had been smacked in the face. I never want that to happen with my images :)

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