Northern raven

[David Policansky]

This raven was quite preoccupied with a trash barrel at a rest stop on Interstate 40 in the southwest United States. I pulled up and cracked the car door, hoping not to spook the bird, and took a few shots but the lighting and BG weren't optimal. So I got out and walked around the car to get better light and BG, and the bird didn't mind at all. It just posed for me. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II at 400 mm, ISO 400, 1/1000 at f/7.1.

[Jake Levin]

For what you're calling not optimal you did very well to bring out the detail in the black bird and keep everything sharp. I like the lookback pose and the gradient from gray to yellow in the background; the only thing I see is what looks like artifacts in the lower left corner. Any chance you did some cloning work down there? All in all, nice shot!

[David Policansky]

Thanks, Jake. I was trying to say that at first, through the cracked door, the lighting and BG weren't optimal, and so I risked spooking the bird by getting out and walking around the car to where I did like the light and BG. Luckily, the bird stayed put. I don't know what's in the lower left corner (other than my watermark). I did no cloning and it's likely something way OOF in the distance in the BG that I didn't notice at the time.

[annmpacheco]

Hi David, If this were mine Id be tempted to crop in closer and lose the bottom and the left where there are artifacts??? The detail around the eye and top of beak are super!

[gail bisson]

Hi David,
The detail is excellent. Talk about "in your face"!
The reflection in the eye is cool.
When I do tight portraits like this I always aim for an aperture of 9 to get as much DOF as possible. If you had been at F9, you would likely have gotten the tip of the bill sharp.
Something funky happened to the LLC so I would go back to the RAW and figure it out! I mage dedinitely worth a redo in PP.
Gail

[David Policansky]

Thanks, Ann. I usually crop too tight, but maybe I should try going tighter here. The image is barely cropped at all so there's plenty of room for more.

[David Policansky]

Many thanks, Gail. It's not "something funky," even if it looks that way. It's something real in the distant BG. I have no idea what it is (was), but obviously it could be smoothed out in PP. I hadn't even noticed it until Jake pointed it out! One of the benefits of posting here! I actually wanted to avoid too much DOF to get that nice smooth BG, though.

[Glenn Conlan]

Great detail and subject

[David Salem]

Very nice details and exposure control! Love the fine feathers around the beak. Well done