Carolina Chickadee (another view)

[Michael Lloyd]

This is a different view of a shot I posted yesterday.

Canon EOS 1DsMKIII
ISO Speed Ratings = 500
Original Date/Time = 2008:08:31 08:21:34
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/800 second
Aperture = F4
Flash = Flash did not fire
Focal Length = 600/1 mm = 600 mm

[Arthur Morris]

Not nearly as good as yesterday's re-post. Everything is on the muddy side and the flowers are chaotic yielding a very distracting BKGR. It looks fairly sharp but the bird's head/face is too dark.muddy.

[Michael Lloyd]

Unfortunately the blacks are gone on this one. I'm not sure what I could have done differently (fill flash?). The background (western sky / morning light) dominated the exposure. I couldn't open up anymore to help with the BG. I'm pretty sure that I dropped the shutter speed 2 stops to try to maintain the blacks but it wasn't quite enough. I looked at my first pass on this one and the whites were blown too... Over processed again.

Thanks again for taking the time to critique the image. It's very helpful.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, fill flash would have helped...but I have rarely seen good results when the BG consists of entertwining branches overlapped over bright patches of sky peeking through like you have here. I don't know about the Carolina Chickadees, but up here the almost identical looking Black-capped Chickadees are very enquisitive and very easy to lure onto perches of choice.

[Michael Lloyd]

True. The BG is a mess. I liked the perch and stance but the rest of the composition turns it into an ok image at best. Thanks for the comments. They are very helpful.