Male Hoary Redpoll

[Paul Lagasi]

Northern birds seem to be moving south in numbers, locally we've had Sawwhet. Boreal, Hawk, Snowy, Great Grey, Long-Eared and Short-Eared Owls, Pine Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, Common Redpolls, White-Winged Crossbills and Bohemian Waxwings....I just wish the weather would be sunny a few days, so we could take advantage..yesterday under a limited cloud ceiling, the sun wasn't out but light was decent...took this photo at a local feeder, yesterday. They are such tame birds, I sat in my foldup chair and they came in to feeder. This photo is full frame (only sized to meet BPN sizes). A little more depth of field would have been nice.

D300 300 2.8 w 1.4tc f4.5 1/800 iso-800 ev+1 AP Handheld

Re-worked eye..reposted

[Judd Patterson]

Hi Paul, that is quite an awesome list of northern birds...you have my jealous! Nice job working your local feeder from a folding chair. I wish that you had been able to include the entire tail of this bird. I also see what looks like "steel eye"...which gives the bird an odd appearance. To correct this image I would select the eye and darken things carefully with a Curves adjustment. Keep working those great birds!

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely sharpness and I really like the inquiring head posture. I agree with your comment re more DOF. I think Judd's suggestion about increasing the eye contrast is good - not sure if it is "steel eye" - did you use flash?

[Paul Lagasi]

Thank You....No flash, just midmorning sun through light clouds. Never heard of steel eye? I think it was the reflected color from the sky..I have one photo where I can see the reflection of a branch in the birds eye (which I've added below)...will try increasing the eye contrast. About the tail.....thats one of the things I miss most about my 200-400, focal length adjustment, without having to remove or add anything. But the 300 2.8 is an incredible lens....Paul

[Tony Whitehead]

Steel eye is the reflection of flash off the bird's retina (same as red eye in humans). Causes a bright bluish/yellowish pupil instead of black.

[Juan Aragonés]

The image looks a bit flat to me and I think that it would be much better if you made additional levels adjustment to increase contrast. I do like the sharpness, bird´s expression and eye contact.
Please, keep the original post untouched and if you need to edit the image is best to made a repost. This way, we can see how the original image was compared to the repost. :-)

[Mark Schmitt]

Good image over-all. You got the bird in the center of the AOC (Area of Confusion) so the DOF may have been shallow but the bird is in the sweet spot...i.e. well done. There is a little area in the BG in URC where there is some mottling of tones: could be smoothed out with some gausian blur: might want to clone out a small "hot" spot in LRC just above tail.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Paul, I love the pose and the inquisitive look. No matter the fixed focal length, you failed to think digitally when creating this image. Had you simply pointed the lens a bit more to the left and a bit down, you would have gotten the tail in and been able to add canvas to the top.

As for the eye, Tony gave a good explanation of steel eye which is akin to red eye in humans and green eye in mammals. You can get red eye from the sun when it is close to the horizon. Other names for steel eye include purple eye, eye shine, and crescent eye.

I worked on the eye that you posted using the Digital Eye Doctor techniques outlined in Digital Basics (and in the next Update coming soon). I darkened the pupil. I lightened the iris and reduced the noise there. Not sure why the funky look in the first place.

What were the spider-like reflections in the eye?

ps: I also like the soft light and the lichens on the branch .