Northern Cardinal in snow
D 90; 80-400 VR @ 400mm. ISO 1600, f/6.3 @ 1/640s. 0EV. HH.
During one of our snowstorms in late February. Image quality suffers from noisy high ISO, and from having taken this through the storm window. And the missing tail. Otherwise it might have been next year's Christmas card. I also tried a vertical version with a tight crop, but I think I like this one better with some surroundings. C&C welcome.
Bill, I agree with your self critique although I don't see any offensive noise. I might try to build the bottom of the tail and add snow to the dark space at the birds back and you might get that x-mas card.
Peter
Bill,
Nice one and close to a perfect one. Was she a tad underexposed, with EV=0 meter would have hard time with the snow. When you add light in post noise will be introduced.
Do you carry the flash with you, a little fill might bring out eye and feather detail. Love the holiday look and mood of the image - a keeper for sure.
Thanks Jeff. In this case the sky was very overcast, and I think the minimal light obviated the need for any compensation even with the snow -- the histogram was just about perfect, thus no light was added in PP. Of course flash wouldn't have worked too well through the window. Maybe next time I'll get him outdoors.Originally Posted by Jeff Cashdollar
repost
Hi Bill, Just wanted to show you an alternate presentation. Cleaned up a few things also. The hidden tail doesn't bother me in this case...
Thanks Dave. That's very similar to my vertical option; but yours is better. I had constrained mine to my 2:3 card format but this cuts a bit off the top to focus better on the bird. Thanks for re-posting.
Daves repost rocks - Nice one.
Like it a lot Bill - Good Ha and eye contact and the snow really adds to this.
Good show :)
Re Post Rocks !! Love it Dave !!!
For exposure you can use the snow an open up, will give great results, just make sure you meter "all" on snow and even using the spot meter (hi Jeff :) ) would work out great !!! Just make sure the subject is in the same light as the metered snow. Surrounding the bird I don't think the spot would be accurate enough to meter, you would be getting some dark areas so just point down to a large patch of snow and then even the Evaluative would be fine !!! Will be an awesome Xmas Card !!!
.... I'm sure you stayed indoors as not to disturb the bird :D
Thanks Alfred. The house makes a great blind for my backyard birds, and its warm. I just wish I had optics-quality glass in my storm door.
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