Spotted Pardalote portrait

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is the male of one of our smallest bird species, also called Diamondbird. You can work out why. :) Believe it or not, these small birds can live up to 15 years!

60% of FF, and this guy perched close to me (well, I approached in plain view) just before he flew into the nest. I had a few good sessions with him and his lady a couple of years ago close to where our horse is, on the same property. They are nesting again so I am hoping for some opportunities. I wish DOF was more, but I was almost at point blank range of the MFD of my 300/4L IS.

30D, 300/4L IS and 1.4x, ISO 500 (I never use part ISOs anymore, just whole numbers), f/5.6, 1/200th, HH, +1/3 EC, flash

I cloned a little twig near the LLC and a leaf in the ULC and was NOT smart enough to blend the ULC well. Sorry, will fix it. Thanks to my eagle-eyed friend who pointed it out.

[Brian Barcelos]

Akos, another very impressive portrait. That eye just pops right out at you. Love the pattern of the feathers and great color. I'm not at specialist or anything but the yellows look a bit blown. Still looks great. Congrats

P.S. You could simply go over the ULC with the Healing brush and it should fix it.

Brian

[Lorant Voros]

I just brought it into Photoshop....yellows look ok. Nice portrait, Akos. Looks like you are the specialist of portraits. I wish for more DOF as well. Congrats.

[John Chardine]

It's nice Ákos. I like the idea of lots of room on the left and the eye ends up perfectly on the thirds intersection. The image is lovely and sharp where it matters. On my monitor the image has a magenta cast which I easily removed in Ps. Maybe just my monitor although I did calibrate recently.

[Alan Murphy]

Great detail and nice eye contact. I do see a slight cast. maybe blue.

[Martin Wallis]

Is the yellow really that intense? Looks a little too saturated, slightly more DOF, but I love it, as with ur other portraits. Beautiful eye.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks for the comments folks.

I now see the cast you are talking about. Will adjust tonight when I get home from work.

I already lowered the intensity of the yellow and they indeed are very strong in the live bird. How could I reduce more without making them look flat?

[Harshad Barve]

another stunning portrait Akos Bhai
Color cast pl check , lovely details & what a eye
TFS

[Simon Bennett]

Excellent portrait Akos, excellent detail and crisply presented.

[denise ippolito]

Akos, Nice details and I love the eye contact. Agree w/comments

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Harshadbhai, Simon and Denise.
Thank you for looking and your comments. I appreciate your time very much. :)

[Kiran Poonacha]

All said above, loved the details and pose Bhai.. such a cute bird.. congrats...

[Stu Bowie]

Hey bru, I like the markings, detail and colours on him, and what a wonderful eye. I like the pastel colour of the BG. Great portrait mate.

[Tony Whitehead]

Great portrait of a tiny bird, Akos. The feather detail around the eye is amazing. It may be worth reviewing Educational Resources regarding the yellow. This looks like an example where the blue is blocking up and adding a 25% blue photo filter layer and masking it to the yellow area makes a difference.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks for looking Tony. I truly appreciate your input. :)

Here is a repost. I masked the bird and left only the yellow patch to which I applied the 25% blue filter as you suggested. Hope it's better. I also upped the Magenta/Green channel in color balance to +5 in the green's favor and tidied the patch in the ULC that I somehow missed earlier.

[Doug Brown]

Nice job with the repost Akos! Love those yellows!

[Raymond Barlow]

excellent close up Akos., sweet details, and nice look!