This was my first trip to Florida - Orlando for a conference. Took 2 days before the conference and paid a vist to Merritt Island and Viera wetlands. There were loads of these birds around - Boat tailed Grackle I think but not very good on US birds. Just thought this was a nice lady. Had to do major work as the whole of the left had side behind the birds was filled with the trunk of a palm tree.
Canon 40D, 1/500 at f8.0 EF 500 at 500mm, Exposure Bias -2/3, ISO 100, AP, Pattern metering.
Hi Michael, Nice exposure,lighting,muted backround and sharp. I would be tempted to crop the image all around(leaving more room in the front) to accentuate the subject more. This will add to the images impact...
Hi Michael - exposure looks good, Good Ha, Good pose and eye contact.
I like the soft pastel colours of the BG - Agree with Dave on the crop suggestion.
Good PP work also.
Excellent - like it.
Great pose and beautiful details in the bird. I think those details get a bit lost against the dark, saturated background.
I would aggressively tone that down (curves adj layer, flatten the composite curve) and brighten the subject (another
curves adj layer ... with masks, obviously). Also obvious, I cropped quite a bit a darkened the perch a little.
Glad you went after the grackles Michael This female looks mighty fine, love what David did with processing ... and all from a small jpeg !!! btw these birds are numerous but difficult to capture with good light !!!
Sharp with lots of details, and good pose at the end of the perch too. You did a clean job on cleaning the trunk. I like what David did with the bird, but also like the original colorful background.
Thanks for all the great comments. David I half agree with your retouching. The bird looks so much better with the added brightness but I love the pastel colours of the BG. Maybe somewhere inbetween mine and yours might be good. Will play around and see. Thnaks again
Common Birds can be very nice
