Yellow Headed Blackbird

[Todd Frost]

D300, 80-400vr, f5.6, 1/250, iso400, +1/3ev.

Comments and critiques always appreciated.
Thanks for looking,
Todd

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Exposure control and details look good. I would remove some of the stalks, especially the one sticking out of the bird's back.

[Steve Canuel]

Hey Todd,
Nice pose on this guy. I don't mind the stalks as its kind of interesting how they rise from left to right, but the black one in the middle really jumps out.
Steve

[Dan Brown]

Hi Todd. I think that you did a great job with exp, sharpness here! I agree with the above about the stalks. So, I removed some of the stalks for you to see the effect. I removed the lower left stalks and then ended up cropping them out because without them, the comp looked off balance IMO. I used the Quick Mask technique that is described in previous threads.

Dan Brown

[Arthur Morris]

Nice image and great job on the re-post by Dan. The eye looks great. Todd, did you do any work on it?

Dan, can you please send me a link to the posted QM techniques that you mentioned?

[Dan Brown]

Todd and Art, actually, the Quick Mask techniques came from Art's Digital Basics PDF. I have learned so much in the last few months on this forum and the PDF it's amazing. The two sources sort of melded together. Dan

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Dan. Actually the techniques (and the guide) were written by Robert O'Toole. We just market it as APTATAS. And you have mastered the techniques quite well.

[Todd Frost]

Artie, did just a little work on the eye. There was already the catch light but I dodged the highlights a bit to bring out a little more.
Dan good job on the repost, have been meaning to get APTATS and learn this technique.

Thanks for the comments,
Todd