Flicker.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi everyone, If i'm not mistaken this is a Red-Shafted Flicker, I was able to shoot this guy for a while as he bathed in the morning sun cleaning himself ect. This is one of the shots that we can see the full bird from head to tail.
Thought id post this one before editing anymore since they are all in the same light and see what the comments and suggestions about the image are like and what can be improved.
The PP was done in LR standard editing dropped highlight increased shadows ect. No cropping, then moved to PS darken around the head just a bit, lighten the back of the head slightly, lightened the back/side of the bird it was in the shadows, then resized, USM, exported.
All comments/tips are very much welcome, thank you for looking.

Brian






Nikon D600,
Nikon 200-500mm f 5.6 @ 500mm
1/800 @ f / 5.6
Iso 400
Handheld

[William Dickson]

Hi Brian, Thanks for posting this, as I have never seen one before. I love the red on the cheek It reminds me of the red on the Waxwing. Its a pity about the branch in the foreground, as this takes your eye away from the bird. There seems to be too much contrast on my screen and a slightly better HA would make a difference. I like the detail around the head area.

Will

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Will, thanks for the comments, I too wish that branch was not there, I did try to darken it a bit but as you can see it still sticks out, i'm hoping he goes back to this spot and maybe get a better angle on him. I also have another Flicker "yellow shafted" that you might enjoy a look at, ill post one once I get them edited. I will also look at toning down the contrast a bit for the future posts. Again thanks for the comments.


Brian

[arash_hazeghi]

The bird is very beautiful but this image has some fatal issues including the very harsh light and the thick OOF branch. too much processing and lifting the shadows has given it a unnatural look with crunchy details and blocked blacks. unfortunately this kind of harsh light has no solution...

I hope you can find him on a better perch next time when the sun is behind you

TFS

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Arash, Thanks for the comments, looking at the set of shots I took I think only a few have the harsh light, I think what happened was the sun came over the trees while I was shooting the rest of the shots are shaded, I posted this one since it had the best full view of the bird. I mainly have the sun behind me all day but I do agree with the branch he likes to perch there, rather take shots of him then miss the opportunity. Duly noted about the harsh light for future posts. Ty again.



Brian

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Brian, my first impression is how dark the image looks.

Arash has provided some excellent points, but I would like to add that I would look at your monitor and the calibration. In addition you can see the masking around the subject where you have overlapped with the brush.

I took the liberty in just opening the image up by a third of a stop, reducing the Contrast and then some of the Exposure sliders in LR and the whole image IMHO takes on a whole new look. The Blacks were also choked, which is an easy fix to avoid this, likewise the Whites.

Not sure how well this RP may help, based on knowing you have some Colour Blindness issues, but I hope it does, sadly I cannot improve the harsh light & perch.

Steve

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Steve, thanks for all the input, Ill be honest it almost looks like what I started out with, I think im overthinking the PP and should have done a lot less to try to enhance the image. Lets see what you think of my next post later today. Thanks a ton.


Brian

[Steve Kaluski]

Ill be honest it almost looks like what I started out with, I think im overthinking the PP and should have done a lot less to try to enhance the image.

Brian, if had a $ for every above response like this, I would be very rich .

Like a lot of things, people over complicate PP and if there are, say 36 sliders to process an image with, then they feel they need to adjust all 36, when only five will do. You are correct, just keep it simple and don't over complicate things, hence not buying every conceivable bit of software on the market, you don't need it. Once you have a really good grasp of the basics, then explore, but until then, just hold fire.

[Daniel Cadieux]

You already got some advice, so I will just point out that you had a really good background going for you here. For composition, as a general rule, try to place more space in front of the face than behind the tail (two to three times more).

[David Salem]

You mentioned that you mainly have the sun at your back the whole day. You shouldn't be shooting the whole day. The harsh light that we are talking about is the light that is created when the sun is higher in the sky.
This sun angle creates "harsh" shadows and is the reason that you don't want to waste your time shooting most subjects, especially avian subjects, after the sun is higher in the sky. In most places on the planet, the best time to shoot is usually two to three hours after sunup and the same before sundown.
This frame was shot when the sun was to high. You can tell by the angle of the catchlight in the eye and the heavy shadow cast on the bird.
Get out there early with the sun directly at your back and try to get some subjects in front of you. I teach this to all my clients and students and it the most important thing in all of avian photography.
You won't need hardly any PP on an image that is shot in early or late light and exposed properly. You will learn faster and understand more about shadows and light angles if you only shoot in the right light. Also if you only shoot in the right light, with the sun at your back, then when something good happens, the chances of you getting an exceptional frame are greatly increased. Only shoot in the right light and spend the daytime hours with your family or on the computer doing PP work on your good images from the last outing :)
Keep shooting and look forward to more.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Dan & David in chiming in.

I'm hoping that with my PM exchanges, Brian has now streamlined his Workflow and that we have 'aligned' both camera & Software so they are now all on the same 'hymn' sheet so to speak and that from Camera, PP to web output there is more of a straight path.

Am waiting to hear/see on how things are progressing.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi David, Thanks for the info, the main reason I shoot later in the afternoons is when the Hawks are flying around, the thermals start around 10:30-11:30 and that's when I see them the most and it gives me something to do :). Btw your assumptions about the time /sun height of the shot is a bit wrong, that shot was taken only 3 hrs after sunrise 10:05 am sunrise is at 7:15 , I did mention it in my post "bathing the in morning sun", I live in high altitude where light is stronger then sea level something I have to deal with even early morning light is "harsh", even @ 3hr after sunrise the sun might be too high, been shooting more in the shade to help with the light issue. I'm out every morning at sunrise and shoot same goes for sunset, anyway thanks again for the tips and info.



Brian

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Steve, Many thanks I will be sending you a pm later , Ill post something today that was shot in the shade so I don't have any harsh light issues and see what everyone thinks.




Brian

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Dan, thanks for the info/ tip, yeah I wish I could get more with this backdrop unfortunately so much vegetation around the place, should get better when we go out to the Bosque if I remember correctly lots more open fields. Thanks again.

[arash_hazeghi]

Brian, if you know he likes to on the same branch take a pair of wood cutters with you next time you are out and get rid of that huge one in the front if you can, that will fix the perch issue

best

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Arash, That would mean climbing down a side of a cliff hahah , its not going to happen :) thanks for the idea tho.