Bohemian Waxwings

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/5.6
1/2000
ISO 1000

These guys have landed on our Scottish shores in large numbers from Scandinavia. The surrounding villages near to me have just about been stripped off berries. I ain't complaining, as I love to photograph them. This is the first time I have seen so many, for years. I tried to get some shots of one bird, on a branch end, showing a better BG, but maybe I will get that next time, as there were so many birds it was difficult to get separation, and a decent BG.

Will

[John Whaley]

Wow, great image. Like like the pose of the two birds and good that you got focus on both. Composition looks good and the red berries add. I would like to see what it looked like warmed just a bit.

[keith mitchell]

Lovely job Will those birds really pop from that typical Waxwing BG,lots of colour from these birds and the berries.

Keith.

[Stuart Philpott]

Oh Will,this is stunning, cor, cheers for posting, what a wonderful take on this incredible bird. One silly thing that instantly grabbed me,even the berries look in fine fettle,they really add to this dramatic image. Beautifully handled light as well Bill I adore the wing details. Incredibly challenging subjects to capture Bill for a bird that is quite bold.

Bill back to those wing details: in the primaries the yellows seem vary variable. Is the strength of colour variable in the actual birds,I have a hunch but can't find detail that males are brighter. The reason I'm asking is i'm also unsure if these yellows can be altered by the camera,maybe in post. Will the strength of yellow in bright light in your image is really apparent to me after staring at this bird all week It doesn't look artificial, it's just i'm trying to sort out what is exactly the cause,i've also wonder if exposure is part of this ?

It's a lovely shot Bill it makes me smile,it's frustrating,but being photobombed by a wax wing, when one nearly has the shot one wanted, has to be one of the best things I've experienced this year I really like the one dead leaf,it adds for me

take care

Stu

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Will, not sure about the overlapping subjects, but I think the image just looks a bit flat and lacks the 'sparkle' you had in the flying swan (awesome).

Rather than going cool, you could just up the WB and then tweak the colours which I feel were rich and vibrant. The Histogram is going more to the left, watch the Shadows. Think you & Stu are enjoying the encounters with these birds, hope to see more.

If you view in PS it might be better??

TFS
Steve

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated and learned from. Hi Stu, thanks for that. I had real good light that day and had to drop the highlights in the BG dramatically, and also a little on the birds, to bring out the detail on the underwings. The yellow on the tail tips are as exposed. I noticed that the crest on the lower bird is longer, maybe this is a male? Keep at them mate, you will get 'that' shot

Hi Steve thanks for the tip, much appreciated.

Will