Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

[Aditya Sridhar]

I love photographing scrub robins. They're full of personality and I just love the way they 'wag' their tail. I got quite lucky with this bird as I managed to get within touching distance before it decided that it had enough and flew away. The light was low and the bird kept hopping all over the place so I had to up my shutter speed at the expense of having more noise. No major cloning, just basic touch-up, and the image represents around 90% of the original frame.

Camera - Nikon D850
Focal Length - 420mm
Aperture - f/5.6
Shutter Speed - 1/2500s
ISO - 4000
Handheld
Manual

The bird wasn't baited or attracted by call playback. Thanks for viewing and, as always, comments and critiques are appreciated

Adi

[annmpacheco]

Hello Aditya,
very nice frame, no noise to see here! How do you process noise at such hi ISO's? I like the soft light, colors and perky tai with some blur. Only wish the stick didn't intersect the feet, and maybe a bit more canvas on bottom. Nice HA as well!

[William Dickson]

Looking real good for ISO 4000. Love the pose. Nice details, but I wished the tail had been in focus. Lovely colours throughout.

Will

[Aditya Sridhar]

Thanks a ton for the feedback, Ann and William!

Ann - Nothing special about my noise reduction technique. If anything, I need to rethink my workflow as the only noise reduction programs I use are LR and ACR. Probably a good idea to move to specialised software such as Neat Image somewhere down the line, but ACR seems to be doing the job at the moment. And I agree, I wish the stick wasn't there :(

[John Mack]

Nice pose on the bird. Image quality looks very nice for ISO 4000. Yes to some more room below.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful Image.

I wish there was more room at the bottom.

I love the tones and soft light.

TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Aditya, lovely soft, muted colours and nice overall colour palette. Great to see others pushing the ISO, PP is so easy if it's well exposed, so kudos.

Like Will's image and commented too by Krishna, I too find it a bit too close at the foot, having more below would be better, but having the low POV is perfect. Perhaps a tad more DoF for the legs and if ethics allow, I might clone out the orange 'blob' at the back of the tail feathers.

TFS
Steve

[Aditya Sridhar]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! As suggested, I've added some canvas to the bottom of the frame. Hope it isn't too dirty. Also Steve, cloning out the orange blob was a great suggestion! It definitely makes a big difference

[Steve Kaluski]

Lovely RP Aditya, personally when shooting this low I quite like to see 'mush' in the FG, so never be afraid to shoot lower, saves PP time too.

Don't forget to view the first few frames on the back of the camera, but use it only for composition, NEVER for colour, in that way you can adjust your shooting/framing angle.