Great Crested Flycatcher

[Dave Kilpatrick]

D300/80-400VR @330mm
Gitzo 3531LSV/Markins M-20
1/500 @ f/5.6
ISO 200
Flash Ex Comp +1.0

Taken from a blind near the nest cavity.

[Arthur Morris]

Way nice first post. When was this image created? Is that a cicada that the bird has?

Overall too light. Needs contrast boost and more room top (especially) and bottom. Great head angle and pose. Bummer on the extra branch.

[Dave Kilpatrick]

That's what it looks like to me. I took this photo, and many others during a two week period in late June of this year. I was trying to capture images of the birds with a variety of prey. Even have an image of this bird or its mate with a ground skink.

Thanks for the critique.

Dave

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome to BPN Dave!

Artie's got it covered, and I agree 100%. That must have been something to see it with a ground skink :-) Looking forward to more...

[Arthur Morris]

Man, I would love to see the best one with the skink. Great situation.

[Dave Kilpatrick]

I'll post it later today but it has to be on the forum that allows man made structures as the flycatcher is at the nest box entrance hole.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN and very nice first post. I like the pose, head angle and the snack adds to it. I agree regarding more contrast and a wider crop. I might clone out part of the branch touching the bird's chest. Keep them coming!

[Dave Kilpatrick]

Thanks again for the critical comments. This is a full frame image so the mistake was in composition and I will pay closer attention to that in the future. The ground skink image will be posted shortly.

[Harold Davis]

big welcome to BPN, dave!! agree with the contrast boost. was this taken in NC? love the pose and the "fly" in its mouth. really nice capture!!

[Dave Kilpatrick]

Thanks. The image was captured in NC. The flycatchers arrive here every Spring about mid-April. They either migrate from south FL or from Central America and usually find a natural cavity. These were the first to use a nest box in my neighborhood.

[Dan Brown]

Welcome Dave. Nice shot, especially because it shows the undertail pattern which seals the ID as Great Crested FC! I agree with the above comments re: contrast boost so in my repost, I adjusted the image a tiny bit with a levels layer, curves layer, Hue/sat layer and selective color layer adding only a bit of blacks to the blacks and grays. I also lightened the birds face a little with a selective shadow/highlight filter and sharpened about 30% with NIK Sharpener Pro. All adjustments were done in PS CS3. I think that the bird still needs room at the top and bottom though:D

[Dave Kilpatrick]

Well I can see I have a lot to learn about the editing process. Nice job.

As I said earlier, this was a full frame image so I need to be more aware of composition in future.