Vermilion Flycatcher male

[Isaac Grant]

I was thrilled when this adult male landed right in front of Walker and I on my last morning in Arizona. This was one of the species that I was really wanting to photograph and it did not disappoint. I was able to photograph a female as well that landed in the same spot. Bird is a little ragged as it lives in really tough conditions in the Arizona summer. It was 106 degrees that morning and getting hotter so the feathers are a little worn. I was amazed at how shiny the bird was in the intense early morning light. Actually that was a fairly common theme for most of the birds that we saw. Almost all were a little worn and ragged from the intense Arizona summers.

Canon 1dx mark ii and Canon 600 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. ISO 1250, SS 1/1600, F9.

[gail bisson]

What a great little bird1 Would love to see one IRL someday.
I like the 2 tone BG and the simple but pretty perch.
I think I would crop this as a 5 x 7 thus losing some frame on the LHS.
I am glad you explained the" shinyness" on the bird. At what time of morning was this taken?
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

Gail I wonder if something was off with the oils on this bird? Photo taken maybe an hour or so after sunrise. The sun was going in and out behind these thin clouds. Light was much cooler on this bird as sun was not out fully on the bird as compared to the female shot that I have.

[John Mack]

Great frame. Love the colors throughout the whole image. Excellent background. Nice perch.

[Juan Tolentino]

Hello Isaac, this is a beautiful bird indeed. Excellent pose/HA. Yes, is a little shiny and I don't want to say a little "crunchy", but IMHO maybe it'll look better with less sharpening given the bird and light conditions? Thank you sharing and for your great comments and suggestions on my previous posts.

[Isaac Grant]

Juan there is no problem with saying it’s a little crunchy. I don’t agree but that’s fine. This bird looked a bit rough and even in the raw had that look to it. On my screen the bird shows a bit rough but not in any way over sharpened. I never sharpen more than .5 and 100 using smart sharpen. This one was even less plus the highlights and shadows were close to 50%. On my 5k iMac it looks spot on but not sure how it looks on other screens. Thanks for the feedback Juan. What screen are you viewing this on. It’s good to know how things look on other screens or to other people. Funny enough Walker has basically the identical photo as we were together and in his photo the bird also has that same look to it. It was something with this male as the female did not look like that at all.

[Juan Tolentino]

Juan there is no problem with saying it’s a little crunchy. I don’t agree but that’s fine. This bird looked a bit rough and even in the raw had that look to it. On my screen the bird shows a bit rough but not in any way over sharpened. I never sharpen more than .5 and 100 using smart sharpen. This one was even less plus the highlights and shadows were close to 50%. On my 5k iMac it looks spot on but not sure how it looks on other screens. Thanks for the feedback Juan. What screen are you viewing this on. It’s good to know how things look on other screens or to other people. Funny enough Walker has basically the identical photo as we were together and in his photo the bird also has that same look to it. It was something with this male as the female did not look like that at all.

Isaac, I have an iMac with a Retina 5k, 27-inch, Late 2015 display. I guess I'm not use to see birds on that condition (106 degrees sounds really hot )

[Isaac Grant]

Cool. Good to know. Mine is the latest one which I think is late 2017? Anyway I totally understand your point which is a good one. Bird in rough condition and oddly shiny. Maybe sharpen even less so as not to exaggerate the worn feathers. That is exactly the kind of info I am looking for and really appreciate the thought behind it. I got off a burst of about 20 shots of this bird with time to change my fstop in between. All have exactly the same look to them which is why I mentioned in my description. By the way the newer iMac is supposed to have a much brighter and better screen but I’ve never compared side by side. Thanks again.

[Bill Dix]

Perhaps not the perfect specimen, but a great pose, lovely perch and background. Congratulations on getting your target.

[William Dickson]

Its looking ok here, maybe lowering the contrast on the bird, should help the 'over sharpened look' Very nice pose, perch and BG. Good HA with lovely colours throughout the image.

Will

[Arthur Morris]

Pretty darned good from where I sit. Maybe a bit lower contrast and adding some CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color would improve a good image.

with love, artie