Yellow Wagtail

[Rich Steel]

Hi

I left the house at 5am a couple of weeks to try and find some yellow wagtail. Our UK version is the only one of the many races that has a yellow head and the male is a beautiful bird in its bright plumage. They take up residence in the same crop field at the end of April every year after their long haul flight up from the wintering areas in Africa. Photographing them is a game of patience as it a question of photographing them from the car and waiting for them to appear on the fence posts by the side of the track which happens quite infrequently. There is no chance of photographing them in the field as thy disappear amongst the crop as soon as they land. This photograph was taken soon after arrival and before the sun had appeared. I guess some of you won't be keen about the fence post perch but it that onrnothing!



Taken with 1DmkIV and 500mm lens at ISO640 F5.6 and 1/160s.

Cheers

Rich

[Arthur Morris]

Agree. The perch is not what you dream of but the bird and the techs and the pose are perfect.

[David Thomasson]

A twiggy little perch would have been preferable, but you takes 'em as you finds 'em, and he is indeed sitting pretty. I slimmed
the post down, but I mainly wanted to experiment with color to bring the yellow forward. Don't know how well I succeeded,
but this is what I settled on ...

[christopher galeski]

nice shot Rich,pose,BG,sharpness bang on,perch not the best,as you sayit is what it is, repost perch is a improvement.still agood shot.thanks.

[Peregrine Craig Nash]

Rich
I find your version infinitely nicer than the photoshopped version. I am just envious that you have them. I've never seen one across the water.
Craig

[Rich Steel]

Thanks for the comments, appreciated as always. I must admit I prefer the original to the repost due to the green background of the crop field behind.

Cheers

Rich

[Arthur Morris]

Agree on the green, but the yellows and the post in the re-post are superior.

[Rich Steel]

Hi Artie

Agree on the perch but not seeing a huge difference in the colours except for some extra detail from sharpening.

Cheers

Rich

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Rich, I am seeing much yellower YELLOWs in the repost (less orange) and the bird is a bit brighter as well. Perhaps it the old color profile bug is biting us here...

[David Thomasson]

I'm not seeing much difference in the yellows either. Might be a color-management thing with your browser, Artie. Both images are in sRGB, and I don't think I did much to the bird's color (no longer have the psd file).

[Arthur Morris]

???????????????????????? :) :confused: