Asian white eye - Thanks to DBP

[Amirtharaj Williams]

Took this picture yesterday in the garden.

Canon 1 D Mark II, F400/5.6 + 1.4 TC + Flash with extender
Cloned out leaves on both sides and cloned the background so it is neat. Learnt all this from DBP over the last week or so. Thanks Artie. There seems to be a colour cast. Would appreciate any advice to help deal with that.

thanks
Christy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find and beautiful bird. I wish for a bit more head turn toward you. The plumage looks not really sharp. You did a good job cloning out the leaves, the areas of the BG look very different and I would try to even it out.

[Amirtharaj Williams]

Thanks Alex. Here is the revised photo.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Christy, Nice bird. It looks sharp to me, perhaps over-sharpened a bit. I like the BKGR. You need to release the shutter when the bird's head is turned towards you, not when it is turned away. Llastly, it looks as if you used too much flash. Do you know what flash setting you used? (Thanks by the way: I think that you were referring to our Digital Basics file which we call DB for short.)

[Amirtharaj Williams]

Hi Artie, I used the flash on ETTL with no compensation and with the extender on at perhaps less than 4 meters. So while processing, I actually reduced it by a stop. I am still learning how to use the flash and can't wait to get the ABP II. Any advice in the interim would be great. Also, can you comment on the colour cast?

thanks
Christy

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, that is the problem, the image is (as it should be with those settings) over-flashed. You would want to set the flash as fill at -2 to -3 stops when working at close range, especially when using a Beamer. At times, I need to lower the diffuser screen that is bulit into the flash even at -3 stops.

It sounds as if you will need to study "Flash Simplified" in ABP II. Get to work!