Waiting for my "New Threads" to grow in!

[Randy Stout]

This male goldfinch looks like he is waiting for his gold to fill in uniformly. The yellow tends to be a bit lighter and more lemon colored until they get their full breeding plumage.

D300 500mm f/4 at f/5.6 1/400 ISO 800 -. EV SB800 with beamer -1.7 EV Gitzo Wimb V2

NX2 post

Comments always appreciated. I wish I had had enough light for a smaller aperture, to improve my DOF, but light was fading fast.

Thanks

Randy

[Scott Frye]

Colors are really nice and I like the over the shoulder pose. Agree with you on needing a little more DOF.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, excellent exposure on the goldfinch, with a super pose. What a killer BG too. DOF covered, and I would maybe run another round of NR on this.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely pose, colours and BG. Plane of focus is perfect.

[Arthur Morris]

Great sharpness, detail, and BKGR. Would love a bit more room above and right. Some bill clean-up is recommended. Love the molt.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks all for the comments.

Repost per Artie's suggestions. Stuart, I hit it with NR again.

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Well done on the repost. No need to repost again but I would still like more room in front as this one would work better for me as a standard 3X2. Not sure why though.

[Arthur Morris]

BTW, I forgot to mention the absoultely perfect head angle for this pose: 2 degrees towards....

[Dave Phillips]

like this one Randy....and the color harmonies too.
Repost looks much more refined regarding sharpening(maybe from slight reduction)
and looks super with extra space.

dof mentioned

[Arthur Morris]

A few more things.

#1: While Canon requires tons of + COMP in soft light with overall light scenes note that Nikon requires tons of underexposure in many cases where Canon would be more accurate. I would start at +1/3 or +2/3 on this one with my MIII bodies. Neither is better but you do need to know your equipment.

#2: I am a fan of more d-o-f with over the shoulder poses but the face is so sharp here that I never noticed the tail till I read Dave's post above. If the bird still sat you could have slowed down from 1/400 to 1/60 for lots more d-o-f. Randy: your images and your critiques are getting better, actually much better.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:
Thanks for the kind words. One of the advantages of shooting so much in my "backyard studio" is that I can really tweak my settings. It is to the point now, that I start changing the exposure compensation as soon as I see what species landed on the perch. I have also been adjusting my fill flash per species.

I also shoot with the red channel highlight blinkies on for most birds, including the gold finches, but switch over to blue blinkies for the indigo buntings. Watching the color specific blinkies is one of the things that really drives my EC into the negative range frequently. I hate blown highlights, on any channel! Cardinals are -2.

Dave, did you think the original looked oversharpened? I usually tend to go on the soft side, I hate the crispy look, but perhaps I drifted a bit far. It was one very sharp RAW file, so didn't hit it very hard with sharpening.

Thanks again to all.

Randy

[Dave Phillips]

Artie:
.............Dave, did you think the original looked oversharpened? I usually tend to go on the soft side, I hate the crispy look, but perhaps I drifted a bit far. It was one very sharp RAW file, so didn't hit it very hard with sharpening.
Thanks again to all.
Randy

My comment did seem a bit strong, in general I did not see oversharpening. A couple small
areas like the cheek have that look that presents when sharpening is applied to an area
without detail requiring sharpening in the first place. Really was a verrrrrry minor point Randy.

I just prefer the look of the repost

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Dave:

No offense taken at all. I am always trying to improve my skills, so appreciate all the input.

I didn't do any selective sharpening on this fellow. I think some of the oversharpened look comes from the molting feathers have a bit different texture.

I always appreciate your comments!

Cheers


Randy

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. I am fine with the sharpening in both posts.

[Jim Fenton]

Randy...

Background is great, as previously noted the head angle and sharpness are perfect.

My issues is that I find the lead in from the tail to the head distracting because it is so OOF.

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the majority of the subject to be in focus and especially the portion which I see first.

[Steve Canuel]

I like the pose and detail of this one. Really pops off that BG.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

Good point. In a perfect world, I would have wanted a smaller aperture for more DOF. With the particular shutter speed, ISO and lighting I had, that was about as good as DOF as I could generate. I usually only get one or two frames off before these guys bolt, and I will trade a fast enough shutter speed to be sure the eye/head is sharp, for a smaller aperture.

Since this is a setup, perhaps I will do a session and force myself to stay at smaller aperture and see what I can get away with!!

Thanks

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Jim: Good point. In a perfect world, I would have wanted a smaller aperture for more DOF. With the particular shutter speed, ISO and lighting I had, that was about as good as DOF as I could generate. I usually only get one or two frames off before these guys bolt, and I will trade a fast enough shutter speed to be sure the eye/head is sharp, for a smaller aperture. Since this is a setup, perhaps I will do a session and force myself to stay at smaller aperture and see what I can get away with!! Thanks Randy

As I said above, you had lots of ISO and excess shutter speed. Here is the big lesson (and it only took me 24 years to learn it). As soon as the slightest chance for an over-the-shoulder image materializes, simply get in the habit of rolling the aperture control wheel four or five clicks. It's that simple. And with practice, it gets even easier.

[Arthur Morris]

ps to Randy: with all that you are participating here, how is it that you only show 2.6 posts per day? I just checked and you have been averaging 20+ per day for a while now...

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Well, when I first joined, in Feb 2008, I was too shy to say much. Since attending your IPT this Feb., I have picked it up a bit. :):)

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Randy. That is what I thought.