Green-tailed Towhee

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi everyone, I have not seen any of these little birds in a few this was taken last month. Shot in the shade to avoid the harsh light I get most of the day here, I was about 8 feet away. Working on a better PP as suggested by past posts. Main focus is to get better with the new work flow and not over think what i'm doing. This does not have the new camera setting but it does have the new LR/PS setting thanks to Steve. Ill try to post one with both changed settings in the future. I didn't worry about the unwanted elements in the background for now more focused and getting the PP right then work on the background elements in future posts or re-posts. One thing I did notice was when LR was importing the images it was adding vivid to the photos maybe this was the reason for the contrast I was getting and trying to fix it has been removed. This was PP in LR lowered highlights, no shadow adjustment, whites and blacks adjusted with the tips Steve explained to me, didn't touch the temp maybe it could have been a bit warmer but when it comes to color adjustments ill wait till I get the calibration tool I ordered and the wife to take a look, with my colorblindness issue it could get ugly :), sharpened in LR, resized and screen sharpen on low. I think that about does it. As always comments and tip are welcome, Thanks to everyone for there help and time.

Brian






Nikon D600,
Nikon 200-500mm ,
500mm @ 1/250 @ f / 5.6,
Iso 400,
No cropping,
Handheld.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Brian - I'm not familiar with the plumage of this species so will leave the colors to someone else although the colors of the bg and foliage look good. From a comp standpoint I wish for more room below and with the bird looking right, I would prefer it to be a more to the left of the frame with the greater amount of space for it to look into rather than behind it.

TFS,
Rachel

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Rachel, Thank you for the comments, noted for the next time was looking to fill the frame I might have a few with more space to the left I would have to look at the rest of the set I took, next time I will be more conscious about framing it better and taking more shots if permitted of different angles and widths. Thanks again for the info.
Ps. just looked at the set all of then have about the same amount of space, will try to remember to frame my shots better in the future.

Brian

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Brian - You misunderstood. I would prefer more space to the right where there bird is looking (moving the bird more to the left in the frame) not more space to the left.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Rachel, Oh my bad I did misunderstood thanks for correcting me :) I do have another shot same pose but with more space to the right , maybe for a re-post with the same settings.

[Doug Brown]

You did very well with sharpening Brian. The bird looks good. I agree with Rachel's suggestion about cropping and would add that I'd like to see more canvas at the bottom of the frame. I think you've got a slight magenta/blue cast to the photo. Here's a version with some tweaking of the magenta/green and yellow/blue sliders. How do you like it?

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Doug, Thanks a lot for the comments and tweaks to the colors, I had to really look to see the difference, I can see it mainly around his head more green in the green parts of the bird very subtle , the colorblindness is a pain but I do see the difference and I do like it. Hopefully once I get the monitor properly calibrated Ill be able to see more of these differences, thanks a lot again.


Brian

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Brian, great comments from Rachel and Doug, and I echo would they have already stated. I will add that I like your low angle of capture, and the hint of food in the beak.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Stu, Thank you for your comments very much appreciated.

[Mike Poole]

A nice pose on the bird, and all the major points already raised above.

From a shooting point of view, you might want to look at using the ISO a bit higher in the future to get a faster shutter speed. It looks like you got a way with the 1/250th here, but small birds often keep making fast twitchy movements, and a faster SS will in all likelihood improve your hit rate.

Good work here though.

Mike

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Mike, thanks for the comment and tip, noted for future shots of small birds, just recently (last month) I have starting shooting at a higher ISO mainly stick around 800 ISO higher if needed, thanks again!



Brian

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Brian, the OP is huge step forward, looks/appears a lot better, seems 'Streamlining' the Workflow has moved things on nicely and in the right direction.

Doug's RP is beter, but my concerns are that you are on the limits of what you can distinguish between here in terms of Colour/Tones/Hues. If however you calibrate your monitor and set things up so the software takes into account your issues, that then will be the 'litmus' test I think.

No idea on how far you can push the Nikon in terms of 'High Iso', but agree on keeping a high SS, but no need to 'machine gun' the subject, a quick burst, or just a few frames should be good. Don't forget to set the camera to AI Servo rather than 'One shot'.

Keep the hard work up.

TFS
Steve

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image in habitat. Nice pose, beautiful colors and nice composition.

Regards,
satish.

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Steve, Thanks for the comments, I think once we get the monitor calibrated should help a lot, from my last colorblindness test I was told its a slight red/green deficiency so I hope it's not a huge issue.
As for the D600 ISO from what I have seen and read I should be good up too 3200 and still "usable" images @ 6400 if exposed correctly. I use a back focus button setting with continuous high setting, I try to get at least 3 shots off and then refocus shoot again, only time I machine gun per say is with flight shots even then I try to keep a steady trigger finger and not go overboard.
Thanks for the encouragement and all the help.


Brian

[Brian Desjardins]

Hi Satish, Thank you sir for your comments really appreciate it!


Brian

[Steve Kaluski]

I was told its a slight red/green deficiency so I hope it's not a huge issue.

As we have now established converting both Camera & Monitor to RGB, this will provide the most accurate rendition in Soft proofing for you.

I still think it's worth you setting the Software to your 'Output of deficiency' in terms of red/green, calibrate the Monitor, then see what's what, lets not cut corners just yet. Follow the instruction in the link I sent you. May I suggest you set things up to take into account the Colour Blindness, then reset the 'Proof Setup' to the 'default' factory settings, if that makes sense. That should provide a good comparison and you are more than welcome to fire off the two output images to me if you wish.

only time I machine gun per say is with flight shots even then I try to keep a steady trigger finger and not go overboard

Don't forget, occasionally the camera needs to refocus itself even in long bursts, so give it a break or slow the frame rate down. Even if it said you could take 16 frames PS, it won't.

If you are using ETTR and a good/sensible SS then you should be all set, High ISO will not break the camera.