I'd appreciate comments and advice on this photo. Grouse usually are a lot more wary than this one. He was intent on moving across our yard and nearly oblivious to my presence.
Details: Nikon D200 with Nikkor AFS VR 70-200 mm G lens, hand held on my knees at 200 mm, f4, 1/500 sec, ISO 200.
I'm not sure if the woody debris in the background may qualify as showing the hand of man - it is leftover from falling a dead pine. This can be a fine distinction at times.
It is amazing to me how close you were able to get to this Grouse and the detail in the plumage is awesome. I do agree about the cropping and on my monitor it looks a tad oversharpened but it may just my computer. Look forward to your future posts.
Way cool bird and I love the fanned tail. No hand of man at all. The BKGR is distracting with the whitish branches... If you could have gotten right down on the ground that would most likely helped with the BKGR. As for the light angle, I think that you chose a perfect spot from which to create the image. True, if you moved to your left the light angle would have improved but you would have lost the amazing view of both the tail and the ruff. And, you made the image when the bird's head was turned into the light. I am a fiend for light angle but there are times when we give up the perfect light angle for a good reason and you have done that here.
later and love, artie
ps: Location please. And what is a G lens???
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Very cool species. I have no problem with branches. Very much like a slide scan :)
I find it a bit tight in the frame especially for this display action.
Szimi
Welcome aboard Bob and very nice first post. I really like the display here, wish it wasn't so tight in the frame and the sticks in the BG detract a bit I think. Looking forward to more from you.
Great image of the grouse's display and I like the way the bird is angled slightly towards the camera. I would prefer a little more space around the bird.
Thanks so much for the response. I signed up after yesterday's Birds as Art Bulletin promised real but positive criticism and you've all delivered. I guess I'll have to think about how to reciprocate with some useful comments about other photos.
I felt very lucky to have such a cooperative grouse last May. We see them frequently but they usually retreat when they see a camera coming. (There are several hanging out under trees near the house right now. The trees offer shelter from the snow. They are hanging about to clean up the debris falling from the suet and sunflower feeders we keep up during the winter.)
I've been puzzling about how to edit this photo since I took it. I've got a pretty clear message -- it is cropped too tightly. (The original wasn't this tight). I cropped it partly to reduce the amount of distracting background clutter. I was on my knees but could have been lower.
I really didn't see any options about sun angle -- it was still early, the sun was fairly low, and the grouse wasn't about to turn around for me. I dropped my rake and made a dash to the house to get my camera. I SHOULD have grabbed my flash too -- thus providing some fill flash. I do have quite a few shots but this is one of the ones that had the most interesting pose. I've also got a side-shot of the bird's ruff which isn't beautiful but is quite interesting.
I did sharpen the image (using the CaptureNX) but there is a lot of detail in the bird's feathers that is real. Sharpening is not a skill I've mastered.
Response about location: I corrected my profile so it shows "Prince George, BC" in my post. We are on the outskirts of town with a garden that is really a clearing in the bush. We see lots of the usual wildlife for this region. This isn't coastal BC -- we don't often get the sub -40 temperatures that used to be the norm but we do get real winter.
Response re. "G" lenses: It's a Nikkor that lacks an external aperture ring as do many of the new lenses.
Ruffed Grouse - Rufous Phase
Reply With Quote