Cedar Waxwing
Captured this image a few days ago in a local wildlife preserve. Cedar Waxwings have some of the finest feather structure, which makes for a significant challenge to capture detail. This is cloud defused back side light using a Better Beamer @ -3 EV. C&C welcome.
D500, Nikon 500mm f4/G + 1.4 TC, 1/1000s, f 7.1, ISO 2000, Gitzo, Wimberley Gimbal head.
Geoffrey
http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu
Yahoooo this is terrific Geoffrey, pose, IQ, and excellent puff of light. I would prefer less canvas on bottom, but a minor preference. Well done Geoffery
Very nice Geoffrey. The greens in the BG and on the perch, really show the bird well. Nice pose and a good HA. I like how the weight of the bird is bending the perch.
Will
Hi Geoff, lovely light with excellent IQ here. A good pose and HA, and I like the splash of red on the wing tips, and yellow on the tail.
This is really nice Geoffrey.
I like the somewhat "surprised" look the waxwing seems to have.
Great POV and I like the waxwings' position very much. It shows the waxy red tips and yellow tail perfectly.
Love the comp and the greens in the color palette.
Also IQ and flash work is excellent.
Nice to see the foot so perfectly.
A really nice image,
Gail
Great Geoffrey! What an excellent example of this birds unique markings. I'm trying to find something to suggest, but I can't come up with anything. Awesome job with that flash by the way.
Beautiful bird, nicely shown. Love the color palette. Really shows where the name Waxwings comes from. Thank you for sharing, Geoffrey.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
www.amazinglight.smugmug.com
Beautiful. Its so hard to get good detail on these birds. I like the perch and the bg. Red on the wing tips and yellow tail feathers look great. A bit more space above perhaps.
Nice one Geoff. I love the perch and the pose of the bird. As I told you when these birds were flying around us I would love a shot of them, especially one like this where you have a great head angle, details and set off against a nice background.
I do find the image a bit flat which may be due to the flash. I think that lowering the mid tones a little and a curves adjustment would give the bird more depth and set it off more against the background. Also think reds at the tips of the wings are over saturated. I agree with John that a little more room on top might be nice. These are easy fixes for an already wonderful shot.
Terrific shot, Geoffrey. I like everything about this one. As John said, these birds have such fine silky feathers that it's tough to get any detail. I don't know if the fill flash flattened the shot; sometimes I've found that a little fill will help the fine feather detail. Red waxy spots look OK on my screen. Great pose, perch and background.
Thanks everyone. Isaac, thanks for catching that the image is a bit flat. To be honest I feel it's in post, because I was bordering on not posting when I did, thinking it needed
more work, depth/contrast.
Geoffrey
http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu
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