A first sighting for me at Eldorado State Park between Golden and Boulder last May. I followed the bird in the trees, and waited for an unobstructed view. This is the closest I got to it.
Canon 40D, 300mm f4L IS, + 1.4x TC, ISO 640, 1/250sec @ f8.0, 0 EV, pattern metering, manual exposure, HH
PP: Lightroom 2.6
>50% crop (7.65m distance)
exposure adjustment: set black and white points, fill, custom white balance
enhanced clarity and vibrance, tweaked tone curve
sharpening, selective sharpening of head and breast, NR,
post-crop vignette
I like how you manage to get both feet and tail visible, not easy to do for perched bird. Seem like part of the bird is in shape while the breast got lit by sunlight. Like the details on the feather, maybe another round of NR on the background and wish the HA is turning toward you more.
Thank you Thanaboon and Oscar for your comments and suggestions.
I just downloaded Nik's Complete Collection for Lightroom and applied the sharpener and NR programs. I used the automatic settings-need to learn how to use manual.
Does this look better?
Last edited by Julie Brown; 02-28-2010 at 11:53 AM.
the bird does look better in the repost, but you should apply the sharpening only to the bird. it looks to have introduced noise to the bg. agree with the others about the head angle. not ideal, but the light and exposure look great!!
Western Tanager
