I photographed this bird against a dark background late ion a dull afternoon, and did very little to change anything - just a bit of noise reductiona and sharpening, plus very light application of highlights and shadows. The crop is partly because there was a large oof branch below the bird, which I wanted out of the way, but I quite like this crop anyway. The image does at least show that the Starling is not such an ugly bird after all.
D300, 300 F4 +1.4TC resting on car seat back. ISO 1250, 1/640, F5.6.
Not ugly at all, the white pattern sure make this bird looks very interesting. I notice you have EV set to -0.7 which probably in the right direction since background is dark and camera will tend to overexpose in this situation, which will cause the white to be blown. I noticed that some black are blocked, maybe due to the direction of the light source, which cause some area to be under shadow and out of camera DR. I like the way you cropped this too.
Hi Richard - Like the BG and how it compliments and sets mr bird off. Head looks to be angled slightly away.
I am seeing a bot of a black outline around some parts of the bird - especially noticeable along the top of the beak.
I might crop some more from the LHS.
Looking forward to seeing more :)
I was told that if you get a sharp eye, with a nice HA and soft or at least adequate light all birds all beautiful. Moreover, I think it is the photographer not the species most of the time,..this does not apply to you b/c this guy is sweet. The Starling has many colors and they can shine and change in the sunlight. The image is good, might need to purchase the BLUBB from the APB web site, a bean bad to keep camera steady, picture is soft and the sensor is off the eye. Large crop's and underexposure can cause fine detail to be lost as well. On balance, not bad,.. and the Starling is among the most populated bird in USA, hence many more chances will come your way - get a bean bag and use center sensor and put it on his kisser next time (smile).
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 11-27-2009 at 12:52 AM.
European Starling
