This is my second thread featuring the fairy pitta at Dongzhai Preserve in Henan, China. For this head shot, I replaced the original mostly gray background with a uniform gray background. The result is a more abstract image, but one that directs the focus more squarely onto the bird. I also cloned out a hot white streak across the top of the bill of the pitta. Grains of sand are visible on the bird's face and bill, as are bits of a spider's web above the nostril and on the upper breast.
Very nice detail and BG but I find the crop too tight for my taste. Would like to see more canvas on top and to the right. A very pretty species with good exposure and eye contact. Many thanks for sharing Craig.
I agree with Judy about the crop. I wold also remove the grains of sand as they distract rather than add to the image (but keep the spider webs!) Good colours and details. With a one second exposure I'm wondering why you are keeping the ISO low and aperture stopped down a bit? Raising the ISO and opening up the aperture would at least give you a better keeper % due to higher SS. In any case, this one is quite sharp as posted!
A pretty bird with interesting colors. Your bird appears well exposed and has good detail in my opinion. I was also wondering if your shutter speed was really one second? I like tight crops but agree with Judy on the this presentation. I hope you do not mind but I tried Judy's suggestion and thought I would post it as a comparison.
Thanks for sharing.
Last edited by Phil Ertel; 06-25-2010 at 04:29 PM.
Reason: spelling :(
Hello and thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I really used a shutter speed of 1s. The reason for f8 was that the bird came very close--so close that I had to turn my lens on its side and shoot vertical. (Shot horizontally, the pitta was fitting in the frame, but just barely.) Because the pitta was so close, and because it often (not so much in this case) was not in perfect profile, I was worried that too much of the bird would be behind the focal plane at a wider aperture. Sure enough, my shots at f8 are superior to my shots at f4. I wasn't worried too much about losing shots, because the two pittas stood extremely still. Faster exposures would have gotten me more keepers, but they would have been the same shot again and again. With one of the pittas perching atop a rock for a full three minutes, I saw an opportunity. The low ISO is in part a result of my imperfect understanding of ISO. I have been under the impression that ISO = noise--that higher ISO means more noise and lower ISO means less. I have since discovered that things aren't that simple, but my understanding is still less than perfect; perhaps someone can send me a link to a past discussion on ISO. I basically relied on my tripod, tripod head, shutter-release cord, and mirror-up, as well as the very still bird, to give me sharp images. Thanks, Phil, for the re-crop. I of course see your point about tightness. I like my tight crop, because my main reason for creating the closeup was to use it as my avatar on forums such as this one, and also as the wallpaper on my iPhone. For such uses, a tight crop is called for.
Hi Craig, good looking subject, and I like the colours. I do like Phil's repost with more space. With regards to a tight crop for your avatar, why not create a good comp in camera with space all round, and then crop in your pp work to suit a tight crop. With regards to ISO, although Im not familiar with the Nikons, I do believe you can push the ISO very high and not suffer with noise. Another factor is shooting with a positive exposure compensation and that will also help with reducing noise. Im sure even pushing yur camera to ISO 800 with a +EC, you wil get far better results. They old saying, experiment to see what works best. Cheers.
Fairy Pitta, Up Close and Personal
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