Great tit (male)

[Christian Muellner]

1/1250 F 5.6, ISO 500 at 200 mm with D7100/70-200 2.8 VR I
Center focus point in continues mode

Attracted with fat ball

Lightroom adjustments:

cropped
light -71
white -40
black + 7
vibrance +13
saturation +5
blue +6
yellow +6

The aperture could be larger next time I think.

The photograph was taken at the same time as my last nuthatch photo and was my first serious attempt to get very close and with a nice(r) background as in the attempts before. I set up my tripod in the car.

Advices for improvements much appreciated.

Best wishes,
Christian

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the pose and the nicely textured. Beautiful BG. Good details. The dof is fine from my perspective. I'd be tempted to add a point or two of warmth (reds - or magentas in LR) to the overall color balance. Perhaps a bit more room below for the lowest claw. Well done overall.

[Graham Wilkes]

These birds can be tough as its easy to over expose the cheeks in bright sunlight, but this looks OK.
Beautiful smooth background, but as Dan said a little more room below claw would improve image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Christian,

Good to see a sensible SS, with the low ISO I might have been temped to go a fraction more, as these guys do move quickly at times. Certain a bit more below would be good, but I would also be tempted to selectively reduce the Greens & Blues, helps the feet and IMHO brings more prominence to the subject. The blacks are, (almost bordering on, not quite to be clipped), so I might also look at the Shadows/Blacks and or Contrast to help bring a bit more detail from within the dark chest plumage. again, some selective sharping on the eye and beak I feel wouldn't hurt.

TFS
Steve

[Diane Miller]

A nice shot for full sun (judging from the shadow of the beak). Nice pose and lovely BG. I would crop from the L to remove the scar on the branch, or clone it out. As suggested, a little more below would be nice.

The blacks are not blocked up, looking at the histogram, but LR might let you pull out a little more detail in them. I'd question going negative with Whites. I'd pull down Exposure first, and compensate by going right with Shadows, to the extent that won't bring up too much noise.

[Steve Kaluski]

The blacks are not blocked up, looking at the histogram

Who said they were Diane?

[Diane Miller]

Read that as, "Although the blacks are not blocked up, ...." you might pull a little more detail out of them.

[Steve Kaluski]

So they are not blocked or 'choked' - I just feel that easing back would help.

Nikon files do not suffer the big issue Canon does, however there is no harm in just easing off, as the image would be better IMHO, although the 1DX MK2 has resolved this to a far greater extent.

[Christian Muellner]

Thanks Daniel, Graham, Steve and Diane for your comments. I'll play around with you suggestions and will leave some more room below. Now, I also think the image would benefit from it!