Tree Swallow in High-key.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Photographed this rather tame Tree Swallow as it took a break from its nest box scouting and inspection duties.

Here is a case where full manual exposure is advantageous: with the Canon 30D and 40D (and many other models too) you are limited to +/- 2 stops exposure compensation when not in manual. This image needed about +3 stops over metered value to properly expose hence the need to go to full manual exposure to be able to push it that high.

Canon 30D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, just about FF.

[Patricia Nordforss]

A really lovely image. I love the pose of the bird, the perch and the nice mild colours and sharpness.

with kind regards

Patricia Nordforss

[Arsdel Fluesmeier]

Dan, this one is great. I likw the hi key and the detail is very good.

[Mike Tracy]

Nice simple comp shows off the swallow well. Excellent exposure. I almost wish there was a little more room around him. Is the twig naturally this light in color ?

[Greg Basco]

Daniel, great exposure and sweet comp. Congrats on a fine image!

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautifully done DC, loved the colours and details here. The BG and perch add very well... great comp too..

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice Dan!

The high-key approach works very well here, and exposure, sharpness, subject pose and perch are in all respects excellent.

My main suggestion would be to crop a bit off the bottom, perhaps to just above the lowest bud, because IMO the great length of the perch dominates the image a bit too much. That would put the bird's head and eye more closely in compliance with the rule-of-thirds.

As a minor second point, there is a white spot immediately below the bird's foot that I would clone out. Small though it is, it catches my eye.
But over all, very well done!

Norm

[Melissa Groo]

Beautiful image, Daniel, I really like this. Love how the high key really isolates the bird. Such a painterly feeling. One thing I'm wondering and sorry if it's a stupid question, but does one choose to go high key, that is, to overexpose because of a challenging subject/situation? That is, because the bird would have been too dark if you had used "normal" exposure? Or is it strictly an artistic decision? hope my question makes sense. Justtrying to understand what high key is all about.

[John Guastella]

Great shot of this very common bird. Exposure is spot-on, not an easy task with these birds (I can never get the area around the eye right). The blue of the body and head is rendered beautifully. I agree with Norm about the perch -- too much of it, which takes the viewer's attention away from the bird.

John

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions

Nice simple comp shows off the swallow well. Excellent exposure. I almost wish there was a little more room around him. Is the twig naturally this light in color ?

Hey Mike, it actually was even lighter than this - almost as if it had a powdery coating to it. What I forgot to mention is that I darkened and saturated the twig in post to bring it closer to the subject as far as luminosity goes.

Very nice Dan!

The high-key approach works very well here, and exposure, sharpness, subject pose and perch are in all respects excellent.

My main suggestion would be to crop a bit off the bottom, perhaps to just above the lowest bud, because IMO the great length of the perch dominates the image a bit too much. That would put the bird's head and eye more closely in compliance with the rule-of-thirds.

As a minor second point, there is a white spot immediately below the bird's foot that I would clone out. Small though it is, it catches my eye.
But over all, very well done!

Norm

Thanks a stack Norm! I'm comfortable with the comp as is but I see your point. If printing this image in a 5:4 ratio the bottom would be the area that would be cropped.

Beautiful image, Daniel, I really like this. Love how the high key really isolates the bird. Such a painterly feeling. One thing I'm wondering and sorry if it's a stupid question, but does one choose to go high key, that is, to overexpose because of a challenging subject/situation? That is, because the bird would have been too dark if you had used "normal" exposure? Or is it strictly an artistic decision? hope my question makes sense. Justtrying to understand what high key is all about.

Hi Melissa. I love high-key artistically speaking. I am glad when I see a situation that presents itself for these opportunities and yes I choose to go that route. One thing to point out is that I am not technically "overexposing" the image...simply adding to the camera's metered value (which is in effect fooled and underexposing) in order to properly expose the subject. This, in turn, renders the bright overcast sky as pure white.

Glad you like it!!

[Doug Brown]

Like this one a lot Daniel. Very simple high key look, but a great job on the exposure. Excellent pose too.

[Stu Bowie]

Dan, you hve brought out the blues of the swallow so well, together with the detail. Good job with the overall exposure, and I do like the high key here. Well thoughtout.

[Tom Rambaut]

Very nice. This demonstrates well that you have to think through things sometimes. Another nice and well executed Image.

[Tony Whitehead]

I love these high key images, Dan. You've chosen a perfect subject and nailed it!

[Stan Cunningham]

From some one fairly new, what do you mean by high key?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Stan. Simply put, high-key means an image with a pure white background. Hope you like it!

[Stan Cunningham]

Loved it, but I don't think I'm going to get one here in AZ with the summer approaching and a very deep blue sky.
Thanks