Nikon D300s with 300mm f/4 Nikon lens
Gitzo Tripod and Jobu Jr. 2 in a hide (behind my curtains in the kitchen!)
f/4.8, 1/60, ISO 500
Late afternoon shot, sun was low and light wasn't all that great. I still need to find some branches to stick in my bird feeder so as to replicate a more natural perch. PP'd out the bird feeder, which was on the right side of the frame. Made sure my horizon was level this time! A wee bit of Noise Reduction and bit of sharpening as well. I ended up using Lightroom 3's preset "Punch" - seems to work for me!
Thoughts?
Thanks as always!
Brian
Last edited by Brian Kent; 11-02-2010 at 09:46 PM.
Greetings. Pretty good detail for being backlit. Perhaps, a little more sharpening would work. A little tight on top for me. Nice looking bird, hope to see one from you with better light...
One of my favorite birds. Very nice detail and BG. I see a slight halo around the birds head and I might try toning down the perch some, especially on the right side.
Peter
Brian, this is a very nice image of a RB Woodpecker. I think you got most of the technicals right - the exposure looks nice on the bird and the BG but is a little hot on the perch. I used the eye dropper tool to select an area of the perch that wasn't over exposed and then used the soft brush tool set at 30% opacity to "paint" over the bright area on the right. I then selected the entire perch and brought the area down a bit with a levels adjustment. That seems to calm the bright white areas down quite a bit. I also cloned over the debris that was there to his right.
I also felt it was very tight on top. Remember that you always want to leave a bit of room for his head to "pop up" so it doesn't give the viewer the feeling that he's trapped in a tight box of a frame. I added a little canvas on top and shaved a bit off the sides to give you an example. This gives it more of a square frame - not to everyone's liking - but in this case I think it works. The angle of the bird keeps you from being able to go vertical but having a ton of empty negative space on the right didn't make much sense either so I chose to try to square crop. See what you think...
Also, very small and minor points that you need to watch for in bird photography - check the bill to make sure there's not too much debris on it. Clone or "paint" over it if you feel there is. Also birds usually can stand a slight curves adjustment to make their eyes pop. I usually grab the top right point where the two lines intersect and gently lift that up just a bit. That will usually grab the brightest part of the eye and give it a nice boost.
The HA isn't bad but it would certainly be more powerful if he was looking towards us instead of slightly away but as a viewer I find myself engaged with him - what is he looking at? It works for me even though it's not THE strongest angle.
Lovely BG - you couldn't have asked for better! Nice image overall. Just need to continue to fine tune the little things now that the big things are falling into place. :D
Eric, make sure you have a seed and nut tube feeder out or else a large suet feeder (one with a big "paddle" on the bottom to support their large tail feathers) - they love those two!
Thank for this wonderful feedback folks! Seems like I got the basic shot down - I just need some PP "final touches". To that end, Julie - thanks SO much for your very nicely detailed suggestions. MUCH appreciated!
:-)
Brian
Red Bellied Woodpecker
