Red-winged Fairy-wren

[Dean Ingwersen]

Hi all,

This is another image from my recent trip to sth-west WA. Image was made near Cheyne's Beach Caravan Park, about 5 hours sth-east of Perth. I wish there were more detail in the blacks but these birds are seriously tough to get right - all that blue is reflective colour and sooooo easy to blow...hence dark blacks.

Thanks for looking.

Canon 20D, 500mm IS L with 1.4x TC, ISO 400, 1/1600, f/5.6, AV @ -1/3.
PS CS2 - sh-h, curves, sat, usm, lightened background, cloned out offending twig in FG, and reduced glare on line of bill.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely shot, Dean. Difficult subject in those lighting conditions - more diffused light would have made it easier. I really like detail you have captured, - nice pose and great BG. You have some great shots form your trip

[Linda Robbins]

Excellent pose and great job considering the light. Did you work on the BG during pp? At the top of the head and along tail there seem to be some rough edges that you could clean up in PS. Lovelly bird and good framing. Such beautiful birds in Australia...

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful image Dean. In particular I like the pose, sharpness, and BG. It'd be nice to have a bit more detail in some of the black areas, but the lack of detail doesn't detract from an otherwise excellent image. I do see some artifacting above the head. One thing I will say is that your watermark draws my eye away from the image; I would try something a little more subtle. Thanks for sharing!

One more thing. If you're going to edit a photo and repost it, just submit the revised version as a separate post in the same thread. From an educational standpoint, it's better for people to see the starting image and the finished product.

[Dean Ingwersen]

Thanks for the comments. The BG was quite noisy as I'd accidentally left the ISO set at 400 when I captured the image:o, so I had selected it and run noise reduction just using Photoshop (still need to buy that noise redn software!). Have reposted it cleaned up...thanks for the help. And thanks for the comment re: watermark Doug...will tone it down a bit in future.

And yes Tony, the trip was awesome and I'm quite happy with the results I've obtained...more to come yet!;)

FYI re: the light...this image was taken an hour and a half after sunrise. Not totally ideal, but not too bad I thought? I did stop not long after that though...do others stop earlier than that??

cheers, Dean

[Glenn Bartley]

Very nice shot of a very cool bird. I think you handles the exposure challenge very nicely.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Dean,
What a sweet little bird! Really lovely image - well done!
Regards,
Nicki

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like it a lot, light is good, BG great and pose and sharpness are amazing! Beautifull bird! Congratulaitons!

[Dean Ingwersen]

If you're going to edit a photo and repost it, just submit the revised version as a separate post in the same thread. From an educational standpoint, it's better for people to see the starting image and the finished product.

Yep, usually do that Doug...don't know why I didn't here! Apologies all.

[Simon Bennett]

Great capture Dean, I like the pose and background.

[Mark Schmitt]

This is a splendid bird. Image is exposed well. Just goes to show, that in the right hands an 8 megapixel camera can still deliver good results.