Backyard setup using a feeder and camo hide
1D MKIII
300mm 2.8L + 1.4 TCII
Tripod + Wimberly II
Manual exposure
Evaluative Metering
Off camera flash 580 EXII manual at 1/8 output, triggered with pocket wizards
ISO 1000
f/4.5
1/500
I like the lighter part of the bg surrounding the Cardinal and perch...makes it stand out more. If you didn't say you used flash I would have never known flash was used...very nice work.
Good flash work, Joel. I love the dusting of snow on the perch but think you could knock the sharpening back on the perch a little as the edges look a little crunchy.
Thanks for all the C&C's and also questions. I'll try my best to explain.
I have one flash on a light stand outside my blind to the left of the perch and about 6-8 feet away. The flash is set up about 1 ft. higher than the perch and aimed slightly downward. The flash is set to 24mm and 1/8 output in manual mode. I am not using a softbox but I am considering getting one. The birds don't mind the light stand, in fact many of them will perch on it!
I did work on the bird's eye but only to remove the flash catchlight, I didn't enlarge the pupil.
The BG is natural....a set of woods behind the perch which starts about 30 feet back. All the trees are gray now and it was heavily overcast so ambient light is very poor.
I would have liked to use f/7.1 on this but I was already pushing pretty hard on the ISO and with these small birds it's a must to keep the shutter speed up as they are rarely still even when perched.