Cedar Waxwing

[Dave Blinder]

Juvenile bird. This was in a shady area so I had to crank up the ISO a bit for sharpness and in hopes of catching action.

RAW processed in DPP, then brought into Photoshop. Had to do noise reduction on the bird, the noise was worse than expected. Starting to think my 40D would have handled it better...



Canon 100-400mm, handheld in natural light, overcast weather, IS mode 1 as usual, shot in Aperture Priority

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 400 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Exposure Bias: +4/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice behavioral shot, the problem here is lack of detail/blurry head.

[Dave Blinder]

Thanks Arash, I think you're right on both cases. The poor lighting didn't help with detail, nor did noise reduction. I was surprised to find motion blur at 1/800s too. I have a couple of other frames left to process, but the action and HA weren't as good.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice bird and the action of it eating is a big plus. I am not crazy about the light BG.
It seems blurred and to me, it needs a bit of contrast.

[Stu Bowie]

Dave, good feeding behaviour captured. I feel moving around if it was possible, to not have had the light area behind the subject.

[Desmond Chan]

I think the bird could use some sharpening. Personally, I would try to deal with the leave in the background that appears to be touching the back of the waxwing and, if possible, get rid of the blurred tree/branch in the background on the left of the pic, too. I like the light and the exposure though. Good colors also.

[Dave Blinder]

Thanks everyone comments noted. Unfortunately this image can't endure anymore contrast adjustments or sharpening, noise is already too high. I don't like to clone on the edges of feathers, the destructive effects are tough to repair in a realistic manner.

A near miss of a great shot!