Been a HOT August in Oklahoma
Chance encounter with a cardinal that was moulting. But given the heat (it was the third week of over 100 degrees a day) it looks like he was just wishing to cool off.
7D, 100-400L,
FL 300mm, ISO200
f/5.6, SS 1/250sec
metered centerwieghted average
Av mode
PP in RAW only and cropped
Thank you
Russell
Russell, I had a few like that this year also but I was under the impression that the loss of feathers was due to parasites. We'll have to see what the others say as I'd really love to know.
There's a few areas I think you could work on to strengthen this image:
First, bring up the shadows in the fence so we can see a bit more of the detail in the wood.
Next, see if you can lighten the head/eye area a bit - I feel like it's getting lost in the dark gray of the cardinals skin color. It could be the entire image could use a bit more light but I'm at work so I can't trust this monitor...
Lastly, you might try a little CCW rotation so the fence line is even throughout the image.
Hi,
I agree, and in addition it looks to me as though the sharpest part of the bird is the tail - that may change if you lighten up the shadows on the head, but perhaps the head needs a little more sharpening.
Richard
Interesting Russell. The bird really does look stressed. Birds that are sickly for one reason or another can't take care of their external parasites like the common chewing lice. They can get overrun with them. And yes, chewing lice eat feathers, dead skin etc. It would be nice to see the poor thing with a bit more light as suggested.
Hi - Agree with the above comments - the reds are also a little hot in some area's. Really need a catchlight in the eye to give it some life - there is a tutorial in the educational resources forum about how to add one.
If it had been possible to get the light at your back so that the subject was evenly illuminated would have helped.
Keep em coming :)
A mess for sure. It looks like he took a 45 slug through and through on his neck!
As far as the image, lots of problem including poor light angle (we cannot see any detail in the shadowed side) and I am betting on hand held....
Use a tripod and learn to point your shadow at the bird :)
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Here is my attempt with most of the suggested PP. I looked in the tutorial section but could not find the catchlight reference.
Thank you for all the comments!
Russell
You've been watching too much CSI Artie! I think that's the "earhole". I know, it doesn't look like it's in the right place!Originally Posted by Arthur Morris
I see some lightening here Russell but I think you need to be pretty agressive to bring out the detail. I've had a go here. I used the Shadows and Highlights adjustment in Photoshop and selectively brought up the shadow areas. Then dodged a bit more around the dark face and eye and sharpened just a little. It would be useful to give these a try.
Here is my attempt with most of the suggested PP. I looked in the tutorial section but could not find the catchlight reference.
Thank you for all the comments!
Russell
Maybe I've been too agressive? When you run Shadows and Highlights it often produces a boost to the saturation, which you can adjust with a slider on the panel (Color correction). I didn't adjust this.
Last edited by John Chardine; 08-26-2010 at 08:36 PM. Reason: added question
I have to say John that yours is much better than mine. I just started a photoshop class in hopes of better understanding much of the terminology used.
That said, he seems much more pitiful now.
I would have used a tripod, but I think the zoo I was at disallows them. I need to check into that.
Russell
p.s. Thank you John for identifying the cause.
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