Swamp sparrow

[Ben Egbert]

This was taken last spring at Peone Prairie wetlands just north of my home in Spokane WA.

I wish for a cleaner setting, but this is the habitat. I did clone one reed sticking out of the back of the bird.

Canon 50d, 500f4+1.4x at f5.6 ISO200 1/640 sec, Gitzo+acraswiss/ sidekick.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the light, details, BG and angle and wish for a bit more head turn. I would tone down the highlights some more.

[Graham Smith.]

Nice shot Ben,
He is a great looking specimen. I like the warm lighting, but agree with axel - a little head turn would be nice. With the exception of the OOF cat-tails on the left, the BG is very nice too.

[Trey Barron]

Love the BG and light, but would tone down the highlits for sure. I might allow a little more room on the bottom and right.

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks for comments. Can't do much with head angle, but I called it up and tried killing highlights. I used a curves and simply brought down the light areas. However, I was not sure how much was required. I suspect this may involve how bright the monitor is calibrated.

I proccessed originally at 80cd/mm^2, which is my print setting. I view web at 110 cd/mm^2. and probably need to reprocess a bit darker for that application before posting.

What needs calibrating here is my visual judgement for WEB viewing.

Do you see any blown highlights? Or is there another clue?

[Connie Mier]

Hi Ben, a beautiful close up, I like the warm tones on the bird and very nice detail. Looks like a little bug in its beak?
I might be inclined to try to remove the foreground reed on the left, it seems to dominate the scene a bit too much.

[Bill Foxworthy]

Beautiful brown bird in like surroundings. The other comments cover what is neeeded but I like the background as is also.

[Ben Egbert]

Hi Ben, a beautiful close up, I like the warm tones on the bird and very nice detail. Looks like a little bug in its beak?
I might be inclined to try to remove the foreground reed on the left, it seems to dominate the scene a bit too much.

I considered it. My masking skills are not ready for that much subject masking. I did one reed with the clone tool but the area of the bird touched by the reed was small. It is a bug.

Glad you liked it. Not a real colorful bird, but that early morning light really makes it pop.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Ben, the bird itself is sharp and well exposed. The "problem" ares as far as brightness goes is in some of the reeds. Sometimes in these situations Ilike the burn tool (usually set at midtones, and about 8% exposure) and just brush over those ares (sometimes two passes might be needed). You can also try the S/H tool and lower the highlights with it, but careful not to overdo it as you can get quite muddy results.

P.S. This is not a Swamp Sparrow, but rather a Song Sparrow (unless all you meant was a sparrow photographed in a swamp!)

[Ben Egbert]

Hi Ben, the bird itself is sharp and well exposed. The "problem" ares as far as brightness goes is in some of the reeds. Sometimes in these situations Ilike the burn tool (usually set at midtones, and about 8% exposure) and just brush over those ares (sometimes two passes might be needed). You can also try the S/H tool and lower the highlights with it, but careful not to overdo it as you can get quite muddy results.

P.S. This is not a Swamp Sparrow, but rather a Song Sparrow (unless all you meant was a sparrow photographed in a swamp!)

Thanks for the tips I will give that a try.

Just spent an hour masking and cloning out the reeds at the left. Learned a lot about masking, but ruined it towards the end, need more practice.

Also thanks for the bird ID correction.

[Harshad Barve]

all points well covered here ,
lovely bird
TFS

[John Chardine]

Ben- This is a super image of a Song Sparrow (good pick Daniel). I like the habitat- for me it's a nice balance of chaos and simplicity. The only thing I would wish for is a better head angle with the bird looking a little more to its right.

[Ben Egbert]

Here is a redo with the lower left reeds cloned and the highlight in the other reeds reduced. I think this is a clumsy clone job, but my first of anything that required this much new area. Tips for filling the new area would be welcome.