At the South Texas Alan Murphy Workshop - little Olive Sparrows (I think?) were running around on the ground, but rarely got up on any of the perches. developing this photo, the colors seemed a little over the top and I was thinking about how s(he) was one of the least colorful birds there (don't need to worry about the camera profile ) so I wondered what he would look like as the most colorful object in the picture
desaturated the background in CS5, then selected the log and leaves and used Nik silvereffects pro on them (desaturating them gave a strange hue) lightened the grey areas a little, and usm on bird. its a fairly large crop.
thank you for looking, and appreciate any comments
(ps - now that I've posted it I see the crop is awkward, and needs to have more on the right to balance, I think. will try that when i get home from work tonight)
Last edited by pat lillich; 02-14-2011 at 10:23 AM.
I like the effect you achieved, with the colors. The bird looks well exposed and sharp.
As far as the crop, in my opinion, I like where you cropped on the right side. I like that the small limb on the right is complete and also the transition of the bark at about the same point on the branch. To me, the next logical crop on the right would be to the left of the base of that limb, which would be probably be too tight.
I really like this. For one thing, I think Olive Sparrow is actually a beautiful little bird, very subtle and understate in its coloration. What you've done really does make it jump out. I think it works.
This may be way over the top, but would it be possible to bring some green back into the vegetation, but still keep it muted so it doesn't compete with the bird?
Super bird Pat but I think it deserves a normally coloured environment. I wonder if toning down the environment a little but not completely would work? Regarding the crop, could you include the clipped branch on the right and therefore bring the bird more to the left in the image?
Super bird Pat but I think it deserves a normally coloured environment. I wonder if toning down the environment a little but not completely would work? Regarding the crop, could you include the clipped branch on the right and therefore bring the bird more to the left in the image?
I agree with Paul, this is an absolute gem of a bird. Is that some powder-blue I see in the feathers?
The composition is good, but I think the bird looks out of place in greyscale world. Perhaps try converting the bird also to greyscale and compare the images to see which one you prefer.
I think the subject is a very pretty bird with beautiful subtle colors. Reminds me how I like the female cardinals colors, with the earth tones, golden brown and rosy orange, as opposed to the male, red and black; just not as interesting. Feather detail and composition are exellent here as well (I have a thing for diagonals). I think that with a subject with bright colors the contrast with a B&W background seems to enhance the colors. Here, its effect (to me of course) is the opposite, it drains the colors. Therefore I'm for color in this background. regards~Bill
thanks you for the input guys! I love birds like this - and liked the way the slightly colored bird made me think about it a bit in the greyscale image. But I'm attaching the original with color here ---
Matthew, I agree, it would be too tight to pull the crop closer to the bird. I think the original has more off to the right. I might look see what is there.
Paul, I'm going to try adding a little green back to the foliage,
John - the version I'm posting has color, but somewhat muted. The description of an Olive Sparrow in our Smithsonian Fieldguide just refers to it as having a grey body, but this one seems to have the yellow on the wings, and possibly pale colors on its body (unless they are reflections of some type?)
Chris - I'll try the grey tone bird too - but I was thinking there were no strong values in the bird that would draw attention to it in a totally b&W picture.
hi Bill, thank you - hope the repost pleases. I liked the female cardinals very much too - along with the pyrrhuloxia which it took me awhile to be able to tell apart.
Is this interesting? Olive Sparrow
) so I wondered what he would look like as the most colorful object in the picture
