Marsh Wren dust bathing

[Dan Brown]

This capture was made this past weekend at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, Yolo co, CA. I found a spot where the wrens were coming out onto the road just after sunrise. I lay in the road and did a belly crawl toward the spot:eek:. I thought that back lighting would accentuate the dust, but it seems that I should have selected a bit brighter exposure, as the bird is a bit dark and not really recoverable with my PS skills. Cropped about 40% and PP'ed in ACR and CS3. I didn't perform any NR, as to preserve the "dust".

Camera Model: NIKON D300, handheld
Shutter speed: 1/180 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: 80 to 400mm
Focal length: 400mm

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Dan I have no problem with the bird as presented Great feel to the image and love that pose with the tail up in the air !! Flash can help with these in a big way !! Excellent image !!!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Dan. Good yeoman's work crawling on the road! Hope you put up cones. :eek: Think you did well with the difficult exposure. As Al mentioned, some fill flash would definitely help out. If I'm not mistaken your camera has a pop-up. Hardest part is remembering to use it! Definitely a unique shot showing a behavior.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Dan,
I like the capture...its a sweet image...would open up the eye area just a tad...I like the ultra low capture...:cool:

[denise ippolito]

Dan, I like the backlighting and the dust and your extremely low angle.Agree w/ opening up the eye a bit.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Love the glow around the bird and the dust, they look like the bird has firery aura to me. Wish that the details of the bird is sharper.

[wendell westfall]

Real nice feel to the image, Dan. i would like to see the bird stand out a bit more from the background, perhaps sharper or with more contrast (maybe not possible, however).

[James Boland]

Hi Dan. I like the natural history capture and you efforts getting into position. If I were to crop the original, I would have probably eliminated the OOF foreground.

Jim Boland

[Daniel Cadieux]

That was a pretty cool scene you witnessed Dan, and good fieldcraft to approch your subject!

Why not go the other way and darken the image instead? I've done it for you here and I find the mood much more dramatic with the accentuated backlighting- plus you can now better see the dust particles flying. I only used the levels sliders to taste (all three were used, but the midtones much more exteseively). I've also recropped the image to eliminate some of the FG (good suggestion James). What do you think?

[Dan Brown]

Thanks all. Dan, I toyed with this idea before posting and now that I see it posted I agree, it is more dramatic and shows the "dust" better, Thank you!