Eastern Bluebird Flying to Nesting Box

[Marlo Casabar]

Eastern Bluebird Flying to Nesting Box by Marlo Casabar, on Flickr

While driving through one of my favorite parks, I noticed this bluebird nesting box. There was a male and female flying back and forth with nesting material.
I noticed that the female would jump from the top of the box into the entrance. The male, on the other hand, would hover in front of the nesting box.
I positioned my car to the side of the box and captured this shot of the male about to fly in to the box.

The raw file was edited in DPP4. After creating TIF file I edited in PS CC with Adjustments - Shadows 2 Highlights 12, then Smart Sharpen of 150. The photo is not cropped. As always, all comments and criticisms are welcome.

Canon 7D MkII
Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM
Canon 1.4x III

f/5.6 1/4000 ISO 1000 Manual Mode

[Randy Stout]

Marlo:

I like the story telling aspect here, the gaze of the bird, feet and wings down, and the ruffled feathers on top. Nice soft background. Excellent timing.

I might be tempted to pull up the curve slightly to brighten the image just a bit.

If you host your image on BPN, you will get a thumbnail showing on the index page, which always helps.

Look forward to more.

Cheers

Randy

[Marlo Casabar]

Hi Randy,

Thank you for your comments. To be honest, I just recently purchased Arash and Art's books "Photographer's Guide to Canon DPP 4" and "Professional Photographer's Guide for Post Processing" I am in that steep part of the learning curve regarding PS CC. I will read up on curves since I have no idea how to use it!

As for the image on BPN, that is also my fault. Having come from Lightroom, I know how to size an image to the BPN specs but I have no idea whatsoever on how to output a jpg from PS CC to BPN specs. Having seen the instructions on how to post via Flickr I took the lazy way out!

Again, thank you for your comments,
Marlo

P

Marlo:

I like the story telling aspect here, the gaze of the bird, feet and wings down, and the ruffled feathers on top. Nice soft background. Excellent timing.

I might be tempted to pull up the curve slightly to brighten the image just a bit.

If you host your image on BPN, you will get a thumbnail showing on the index page, which always helps.

Look forward to more.

Cheers

Randy

[Isaac Grant]

Here are 2 easy ways to post pics and resize.

1- This way is not recommended as most recommend to resize first and then sharpen but often I do not do that. Once I have edited my photo and sharpened in PS, just go to FILE, EXPORT, SAVE FOR WEB, resize photo to 1200 x 800 max, make sure you are below the 400 allowed and then save. I name mine the name of the shot for web. If when at max size you are above 400 and don't want to resize further you can go into the quality drop down on the top right and lower until you are at the right size.

2- The proper way to size is to follow the instructions as per your guide with all edits and then the NR. Then resize photo. Go to IMAGE, IMAGE SIZE, pick the size again for ex 1200 x 800. Then sharpen the resized image.

Once you have saved go to the link when posting for uploading a pic. Choose the right one and your thumbnail will appear.

Should be easy enough to pick either way.

[Marlo Casabar]

Thank you Grant! I will follow step to to resize future photo posts!

Marlo