Brown Creeper

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 @ 370mm. ISO 800. f/6.3 @ 1/2000s. Matrix metering, 0EV. HH. Cropped to vert, and 28% off of height.

Another in my backyard bird series, but this is not one of my usual suspects. In fact he's a rare visitor to my Maple tree, and seems to have come in the last few days to pick up the suet scraps left by the Flickers. He's a tiny bird, at 8 grams he's less than half the weight of a White-breasted Nuthatch, for example. I tried for several hours yesterday morning and again this morning to capture him, and this is the best so far. But just after I discovered that he doesn't seem to mind my being within 15' of the tree, the sun popped out and ruined my exposure setting, so I resorted to some burning, dodging and S/H which shows here. I'll try again in softer light if he returns. C&C always appreciated.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bill Sure wish the sun had cooperated for this one !!! You worked the bird hard !!!

The PS turned out well, might try toning the area under the beak just a little but do like it as presented !!!

[Harold Davis]

yep!! you gotta watch that changing light!! it's a killer! you did well here though. i like the pose and the detail. only the blown whites hurt you. good luck getting him with the softer light.

and good job with being patient trying to get him. will pay off in the long run!!!

[Lance Peters]

not bad considering the light you had to deal with, hope this guy pays you another visit.
Looking forward to seeing more of this guy!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Everything covered, like the way you are moving to more verts. They look good and it is part of a growing process IMO. Composition is good, 1/3 tree, 1/3 bird and 1/3 sky but mixed light hurts. When they are in this position I find it hard to get the light correct and often use fill flash. Bill, your photography gets better with every post - looking forward to more from you.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you Alfred, Harold, Lance and Jeff. Jeff, I appreciate the comment. I do feel that I'm improving, and owe most of it to the help I've received from folks at BPN. (And a bit to the fact that since I've retired I have a lot of time on my hands to practice the craft, and to keep an eye on my avian subjects out my back door.)

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice Bill, cute little fellow! like the details, not the best light, BTW might try that pop up to fill the shadows! TFS

[Bill Dix]

Nice Bill, cute little fellow! like the details, not the best light, BTW might try that pop up to fill the shadows! TFS

Thanks, Arash. Interesting idea to use the pop-up flash. I haven't gotten very good at using flash, but I think the problems are twofold: first, he's only in that ideal tangent spot on the tree for a split second every 20 minutes or so. I need to anticipate him and fire a burst of shots as he spirals up and around the tree. My flash doesn't recharge quick enough for that. And he's so fidgety that I need a fast SS. When I use the flash my max SS is 1/200th unless I'm doing something wrong. So I'll hope for softer light and a better angle.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Very nice Bill, like the pose. Flash is a study in itself.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Uh, this is really good considering the species,
bummer for the whites, did you try to recover in ACR?

[Bill Dix]

Uh, this is really good considering the species,
bummer for the whites, did you try to recover in ACR?

Thanks Ilija. I tried various adjustments in Raw Capture. I tried lowering the exposure considerably, but didn't like the results, so I tried a second time, with just a minimal downward adjustment to exposure and dealt with the hot spot locally. That kept the rest of the bird looking pretty good as you see here, but perhaps I didn't adjust quite enough. In any case, I got another shot this morning that looks like better exposure and light although the fine feather detail may not be as good. I'll process it and may post it tomorrow.