Yes, I'm Common, But....

[Melissa Groo]

...I'm pretty, right?
Common Grackle photographed a couple days ago here in central NY. I actually had to desaturate quite a bit, the colors looked too unreal out of the camera.
This was a cloudy day (as most days here are) which I think worked well for this portrait.
In post, I also sharpened, ran NR, and darkened the perch a bit.

Canon 7D
500mm 1.4x
1/640 sec at f/6.3
ISO 800
photographed from car window

Thank you for looking and for C & C!

[Per-Gunnar Ostby]

Nice pose and great colours on its back and neck.

To me this still seems a bit unsharp.

Personally, I might leave a bit more room on the left hand side

[Melissa Groo]

Nice pose and great colours on its back and neck.

To me this still seems a bit unsharp.

Personally, I might leave a bit more room on the left hand side

Thanks. I know what you mean about not looking sharp enough. This time I tried Unsharp Mask instead of Smart Sharpen and I think it worked better. Gave more room to left too so he has more space to look into. Do you like this better?

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Melissa,
nice pose and BG but details are lacking in both, perhaps due to too much NR.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks Arash. I did only apply NR to the background, should have said that. I probably should have stopped down on my aperture...

[Per-Gunnar Ostby]

Melissa, I do like this more

[Daniel Cadieux]

Grackles may be common, and they may be bullies at the backyard feeders, but I always thought of them as beautiful. You did a good job with the colours and the comp. I like the pose too. Both images do appear as being soft though. I prefer the comp in the repost.

[Randy Stout]

Melissa:

Lovely colors, over the back pose, background.

Agree about the softness. The tail looks slightly sharper than the head, which makes me wonder where the camera focused.

Cheers

Randy

[Melissa Groo]

THanks Daniel and Randy. My focusing must have been off. I think I was in Servo mode and didn't hit the Lock Focus button when was composing shot...also, I think smaller aperture would have helped too, I was quite close. I will be more aware next time. THanks again for the feedback.

[Arthur Morris]

Though the repost is a big improvement, it looks--in the original post--as if the sharpest focus was on the tail and rump. Soft light is the only option for those glossy black birds for me.