Blackbird with nest material

[Jonathan Ashton]

Image captured in local woodland, hand held

OM-1 150-400TC
Focal Length (35 mm conversion) : 1000.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO: 4000
Exposure compensation : 0.0 EV
Shutter : 1/2000 sec

ACR/PSCC

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... quite nice shot of the female Blackbird , from the behavioral aspect !!!!
The subject does look quite good in terms of color and tones and the head turn is just on the cusp of being too much turned away , but it holds up .
Overall i do find the image quite " flat " with missing depth .... just my 2 cents ... looks almost like " out of cam " .
With little bit of processing you can create more " interest " IMHO ... but you seem to prefer the " as seen look " .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Andreas, agreed, when the images are developed for effect as opposed to how it was I tend to ask myself "why"? In general I want to replicate nature and not enhance to make images to look like they belong in a coffee table top book, There is a point of course part way and I concede the image could have looked a little more effective, in my defence the whole area was in deep shade.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Jon ... if you do not want to develop for effect , then I would raise the question why bothering with editing ???? Just shoot in camera developed jepg´s ????!!!!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Jon ... if you do not want to develop for effect , then I would raise the question why bothering with editing ???? Just shoot in camera developed jepg´s ????!!!!

I think you are taking my point a little too literally, in general I want to keep the image as close to what I saw as possible, inevitably processing is required for enhancement, what I am trying to explain is that my intentions are to do the minimal to recreate what I saw. The amount of developing/manipulation is not "standard".

[Andreas Liedmann]

LOL Jon ... just wanted to poke you a little . It is ok if you keep it close to your natural looking vision .... I just think images can look better ( from my POV ) if one does invest a bit of time and work . Just a slightly different view of things .