American Redstart from Michigan

[Warren Spreng]

Another small bird from my hikes in Michigan. This is an American Redstart that, like the warblers, darts from tree to tree and you just have to be patient and wait for them to alight for a few seconds. This was in a fairly shady area of the area around the path, early morning, clear skies, HH.

Canon 7D Mark II, Tamron 150 - 600mm, 450mm, f/6.3, 1/320, ISO 800
In LR reduced highlights, increased shadows, boosted vibrance, in PS, cropped vertically about 30%, mild NR to BG, slight work with curves to increase contrast, and cloned a bright white patch out of upper left corner.

[Adhika Lie]

Hi Warren,

Beautiful bird this one is. I can only imagine how patient you have to be to get this shot and the image certainly pays off (at least from my perspective). Was it handheld? I really like how the bird's color go together with the BG but I am thinking the right end of the perch could be fixed using some clone tool. Have you also tried brushed some sharpening to the head?

[Glennie Passier]

Warren this is lovely. Love the BG. The perch doesn't bother me at all. I might consider more room on the LHS if you have it. I am interested in "increased shadows". I seem to be always opening up the shadows....and I think this image may benefit from doing that to show a bit more detail on the dark head and breast. A little more selective sharpening may be good too, as Adhika mentioned.

I hope to see many more from your trip!

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks Adhika and Glennie! Adhika, yes it was HH, I found since these little guys move so much I need more maneuverability to hope for a shot and I don't get that with a tripod. I'm not at my computer Glennie so I'll need to look at why I cropped it on the left hand side where I did, I'll also see about bringing up the shadows on the head, I want to be sure to keep the deep black as that is a key feature on the bird. They are easy to spot with the contrast of the black and orange when they fly!

[Glennie Passier]

OK. If the black is a key feature, and it is beautiful, maybe just have a look and see what you think. I really have no idea about the birds colour. But if you look there are little areas of black that have got quite "heavy" looking. I do seem to be seeing different colours than most folk at the moment, so maybe I am completely off track.

[Tim Foltz]

Warren, overall a nice shot I might have done a little selective sharpening on some of the feather details and opened up some of the solid black areas just a tad.
Very nice image, you handled the poor light very well.

Regards -Tim

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks for the comments Tim. Glennie I see where you are talking about on some of those blacker areas, particularly on the breast. I'll have a go at those areas as well as look at some selective sharpening as suggested to see what I can come up with.

Thanks for all the input! More birds from this hike to come! Just not as colorful!

Edit: OK, on my MAC the blacks are not as heavy like they look on my Ipad, so let's see what some playing with the image can do!

See what you think of this RP

[Tim Foltz]

Warren, much better.

-Tim

[Warren Spreng]

Warren, much better.

-Tim

Thanks!

[Bob Miller]

Warren, I agree much better! Here s a method I use ( sorry if you already know it) to open shadows.
Duplicate layer....apply screen blend mode....add a black mask.....paint in where you want the shadows opened.....adjust opacity of the layer to taste

[Warren Spreng]

Warren, I agree much better! Here s a method I use ( sorry if you already know it) to open shadows.
Duplicate layer....apply screen blend mode....add a black mask.....paint in where you want the shadows opened.....adjust opacity of the layer to taste

Thanks Bob, I can always use new ideas to try out!

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of beautiful bird. Seeing for the first time.


Regards,
Satish.

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks Satish!