Redwing Blackbird

[Rene Quenneville]

Overcast morning,
I decided to go for high contrast subject. I did tak several shots at this active (and noisy) fellow.

What do you think about the head position? Would it be better if the bill was showing against the sky?

1/320
f/5.6
ISO 1000
fill at +1/3 with BB
420mm (300+1.4TC)
As you can see there was not much light!
I then brought it in photoshop to increase contrast and reduce noise.

[Doug Brown]

I like the nice display of color and the singing pose Rene. I think the beak stands out nicely against the black plumage. I would crop a bit off the bottom and top. And I would have pushed the exposure a little further to the right to get some additional detail in the blacks. Perhaps some more aggressive PS work? Here's a repost with a little Shadows/Highlights work on the bird, some darkening of the perch, and a recrop. What do you think?

[Rene Quenneville]

Thank you Doug,

After processing in Lightroom I realized that I did push the contrast and/or black point too much on the bird. I will have to reprocess the image. The burning on the rail adds a lot to the picture.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the calling pose and BG. The perch is not ideal and the eye looks a bit overflashed on my monitor.

[Linda Robbins]

Nice singing pose. Love those shoulder patches, and the beak looks fine against the plumage. I wish the bird had chosen a natural perch.