blackbird

[pat lillich]

as I was heading back to the car this morning, this blackbird flew up and landed on the grass a few feet away as if to demand his portrait be taken. wasn't sure how to best set the exposure - hoped to catch him as he flew off, so ended up keeping speed high and upping the ISO - the light ended up rather harsh - but none of the blacks were blocked in LR, and pushing recovery to the right brought back the highlights in the light grass.

would appreciate suggestions of best ways to deal with really dark birds on really light backgrounds... both in the settings on the camera, and in post processing.

7d, 400 f/4 DO, 1/1600 sec at f/5.6, manual, handheld, ISO 800

cropped, recovery (and contrast and clarity upped) in LR, a little S/H, NR on background, and smart sharpening in CS5

appreciate any and all suggestions for improvement.
thanks!

[Dave Leroy]

It looks really well done to me and especially considering the range of tones.

There are a whole ton of details through out the range particularly in the blacks and nothing seems to be blown or blocked.

So very well done.

I think in the end black birds of birds with black and white some fill flash is required.

A bit more dof would have been nice. and a bit better eye contact would have really topped this one off for me.

Perch is something else as well.

Dave

[Bill Dix]

I echo Dave's comments. Looks to me like you did a nice job with the exposure of the blacks, especially in harsh light. Slight head turn and a bit more DOF would have been nice, but more DOF would have cost you some SS or ISO, so perhaps you picked the right compromise. Softer light would have been nice but you take what you're dealt. All in all, very nicely done.

[pat lillich]

thanks Dave, I got a few shots with better eye contact, but liked the open mouth on this one. really wish i had gotten a few showing more of the red patch on the wing. that is a pretty pathetic tail he has there too....

[annmpacheco]

Pat, what a beauty and I really like the exposure of the blacks against the sky and grass. Also, the open mouth is a plus. nice work! ann

[Paul Guris]

I think you hit it really well, and the perch is absolutely perfect. It's both attractive and very habitat oriented for this species as compared to something generic looking like a stick. The only suggestion I have is you might try to sharpen the tail a little more, but that's really a very minor nit.

[Peter Farrell]

I agree, you nailed this one Pat. Great details throughout the blacks. As previously stated, more DOF and better HA would have helped.
Peter

[Sid Garige]

Awesome exposure and details Pat. Exposure is perfect. Not a big fan of square comps though... :)

[George Cottay]

. . . .would appreciate suggestions of best ways to deal with really dark birds on really light backgrounds... both in the settings on the camera, and in post processing . . . .

I'm not qualified to suggest best ways, but have had some good results using the adjustment brush in ACR.

[Doug Brown]

When you're shooting in manual mode, the BG won't influence the exposure of the bird. For really dark birds I try to overexpose in camera and pull things back down in post. It looks like you did a nice job with your exposure here; I'm seeing detail in all of the blacks. The problem for me is that the bird isn't black enough. So I'd darken most of the blacks, leaving the blackest blacks unchanged.

In this repost I did a curves adjustment layer. Then I pulled down the blacks, but masked out the changes around the face. What do you think?

[Maureen Allen]

Looks great, Pat. RWBBs are tough to expose well and you surely did.

I like Doug's repost, darkening the blacks a bit.

[George Cottay]

I'm enjoying this thread as an example of the "extended eye" that makes bird photography so fascinating.

Though I've had extremely close encounters with RWBBs they were so sudden and fleeting I do not, by my own eyes, have anything more than a general impression of their appearance. The fact that I lack the slightest clue about how black this bird should be is a reminder that almost everything I know about the details of birds I've learned from the eyes and lenses of bird photographers.

[pat lillich]

thanks Doug! as first posted there was something just wrong, but i couldn't figure out what it was. that change in depth of blackness definitely makes it feel more right.

this morning another blackbird, near the same spot as this one and in very similar light, posed for me - the perch isn't as cool, but it will give me another opportunity to try to process these.

thanks everyone for input and comments!