Spotted Towhee

[Kerry Perkins]

Or "rufous-sided towhee", depending on which book you use. Either way I "spotted" this towhee in Sycamore Canyon. Late afternoon, snooping around in the shadows where the passerines hang out.

The strange aperture was because I had forgotten to set the flash to HSS. I thought I was shooting at f/5.6. The camera helped me out...

Converted in LR then to CS4 for Topaz Denoise and Nik Sharpener Pro. The usual curves, color, etc. Cropped a bit and cloned out one stick.

50D, EF400mm f/5.6L
Av mode, f/10@1/250 ISO 400 AWB EC -1/3
AI Servo autofocus using back button, HH, 580EX II with beamer at -2/3, ETTL evaluative

Thank you for your comments.

[Gus Cobos]

Well done Kerry,
You have a good head angle with a good sharp eye contact...the fine sharp details and color rendition on your bird are superb...well done Sir...:cool:

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Kerry,

Nice shot, I would have thought -2/3 on the BB would be too much flash give the outside light; shows what I know?

Could you please explain HHS? I assume the Topaz is NR software. Why use Nik Shar Pro, is it better than CS4?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

HI Kerry

A lovely pose and setting for your bird. I do find that the branch behind it is a little dominant, but if you don't touch it, I will still like it as is. Congrats! :)

Kerry,
Could you please explain HSS?

HSS is High Speed Synch that you set on your flash to synch at ANY and ALL shutter speeds, even at 1/8000th. :)

[Lance Peters]

Akos is indeed correct - HSS is high speed sync flash - lots of advantages and some disadvantages. With HSS Your flash fires a continously rather than a single burst and basically stays on the entire time your shutter is open. Also once you go HSS you loose about 1 stop of flash power and then about another 1 stop of flash power for every 1 stop increase in shutter speed.

You also will loose the ability to freeze motion as your flash is now staying on the whole time the shutter is open. Only certain camera/flash units support HSS.

Nice Kerry - like the inquisitive pose and shAarp details - well done :)

[Christopher Miller]

Kerry, very nice. Like the pose and that nice sharp eye. Nice blurred BG, the branch is a bit distracting but not bad. I like it!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Jeff. In this case, the flash is the primary light source as the subject was in total shade and I didn't want to blow out the bg. Also, I believe in what Moose Peterson says about the beamer - "The real use of these units should not be to get light out there six miles. These units should be used to increase the amount of depth-of-field we're obtaining when using flash.".

High-speed sync has been explained by others.

As for what software to use, it's purely a matter of choice and what you have learned to use effectively. I like to use Nik Sharpener Pro for some images because you can paint the effect on with a brush. You can actually do that with any filter, but I like the way it is integrated into the Nik interface. I also use usm, smart sharpen, and edge mask/layer mask techniques when appropriate. I don't think there are any convenient generalizations about what is "better". It just depends on what you like to use, how well you learn to use it, and the individual needs of each image.

[David Thomasson]

Nicely done. I think there's a slight blue cast. I located the brightest point in the white feathers and set the white point there at 242.

[Kerry Perkins]

Thank you David. Very nice improvement!

[denise ippolito]

Kerry, Nice sharp details and I like the curious look . I didn't see the cast until David fixed it! Nice catch David! I like the bokey BG and the branch is a minor distraction only.

[Alfred Forns]

You eyes are really good David !!! Would have missed this one !!

Fine image Kerry ... the pose just puts it over the top and managed the bg so well !! Big Congrats !!

[Nonda Surratt]

Love it Kerry, great birds. Nice on the color David