Cerulean Warbler

[Anthony Barsotti]

Here's one from a few months back, one of my favorite warblers. Got a few decent looks and even though this isn't a traditional pose I thought it was kind of neat. Shot with my Canon 1DX and 600mm f/4 IS II at f/4, ISO 640. Processed in ACR and some slight noise reduction was done with Topaz AI Clear. Added a few adjustment layers in Photoshop to even lighting across the frame. Hope you like it, thanks for looking.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I imagine this was a tricky one to process, I suspect it was a little underexposed and the light was full of colour casts. Potentially a rewarding image to process, many things could be learned. The tail crossing over the branch is unfortunate but I think the processing especially at raw stage could be developed to enhance presentation. Certainly worth having another look starting with colour temp, colours and contrast.

[John Mack]

The pose is nice and the background is nice for a warbler frame. The bird does have a blue cast on it.

[Dorian Anderson]

Great close look at this canopy bird! The details across the anterior are excellent, and the engaging head tilt is perfect. The perch is decent but not idea (tail being mentioned already). The lighting conditions were obviously very tough, and it sounds like you've had to a fair amount of processing to get it to its current state. So, minus eliminating the bluish cast and maybe brightening the scene a touch, I'm not sure what else to suggest.

[Anthony Barsotti]

Appreciate the feedback everyone! Yeah the tail crossing the perch was what made me not process this at first, combined with the harsh lighting (this was like 1pm I think) my first attempt was really frustrating. I’ll knock out the blue cast though, glad you all mentioned it!