D60 | 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR
300mm | f/8 | 1/125sec | ISO 800 | +2/3 EV Full Size
Self Critique
Once again noisy. It was a trade off for shutter speed. It might benefit from a tighter crop to remove the blown out space between the leaves. It might not, too. My angle is too low. I had no way to get higher without fear of frightening the parents and having them not return to feed the babies. I also kind of like the fact that you get a good view of her underside which is the trademark of the Baltimore Oriole.
I like the pose of the bird and seeing the nest. It's a very sweet photo.
I'd crop it, that would help with the leaves and it would move the nest off center. I'd also add some contrast. Last, I'd try to get rid of the aqua color around the leaves - in LR I'd shift aqua toward blue, then desaturate as needed to tone it down.
ETA my take, probably over the top but something along these lines. I also added neg. clarity to the surrounding leaves to make the bird pop, and used a bit of minus and plus exposure here and there. :-)
Last edited by Meesh Fink; 06-17-2010 at 02:47 PM.
Great to catch the bird and the nest. I agree with the crop from left and bottom per the repost (although I probably wouldn't have taken the little bit off the top.) Repost probably overdid the contrast, as Meesh noted, but the OP did need some contrast boost, maybe just not that much. Something funky about the edges of the leaves against the sky - maybe more dynamic range than the camera could handle??? I've had similar problems shooting in the woods. In any case, good find. Don't scare mom away.
From Florida, don't get to see these great birds, much, but I did have a couple of juvenile males visti this winter. I'm really hoping they will like my hospitality and return next winter. This is the first time, I have ever seen one's nest. Is it in your yard/ I hope you are able to get pictures of the young. A nice shot of a bird in it's natural habitat.
Hi Ben - glad to hear you are being responsible with your approach to the nest!!
Id agree a slight contrast boost - not as much as the repost though - Id be tempted to darken the corners a little to keep the viewers eye in the frame.
Hi Ben, Agree the image needed a contrast boost but a bit overdone in the repost. Agree with the crop from the bottom. I would look at this image more as a teaching tool to show the unusual nesting characteristics of the species. In looking at it that way it succeeds...
Depending on what monitor I'm looking at this shot on, yes, I agree about the contrast. >< I'm also gonna give it a little different crop tonight (when I'm not at work) and repost.
Alfred, I've been told and read so many times not to shoot wide open I just never do unless it's specifically for DoF.
For those interested, yes, these beautiful birds are nesting in a silver maple behind my house maybe 18' off the ground. Found it about 3 weeks ago.
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
