Hooded Warbler

[Matthew Pimm]

Hooded Warbler, Strawberry Fields, Central Park, NY 4/26/11 9:18am

Used raw image and recovered some detail in highlights. In Photoshop I retouched a distracting highlighted twig that came up from below toward bird's breast where black hood and yellow meet.

I like the atmosphere of the mottled light and therefore I am afraid to open up around the head more and lose the shadow across the face.

The top of the head is nicely haloed by a leaf in background but do I lose the beak too much in the shadows?

Thoughts?

Canon 7D, 300f4L IS, 1.4x, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/250, AV, IS turned off
Gitzo GT2331 aluminum tripod, Kirk BH-3 ball head with Wimberley Sidekick

[John Chardine]

Hi Matthew- Great to see such a beautiful bird. I like the pose and head angle and the foreground and background are not too distracting. In my opinion, light like this which is filtered through vegetation rarely works in comparison to, for example, warm, soft light from behind you. Filtered light tends to produce deep shadows and bright highlights, which can dominate the image and distract from the subject. The halo around the head looks a lot like a processing artifact- I know it isn't in this case but it gives that impression. You could mask off the bird's head and remove it.

[Paul Guris]

I agree about the light. I think the shadows could work if they fell on the body, but not on the head which is the obvious focal point, especially for this species.

[Kerry Perkins]

Matthew, good points made by John and Paul. Mixed light seldom works in a photograph as well as it does to the eye. The camera can't make the exposure right for both extremes when the light source is so bright, and nothing outshines the sun! Fill flash, even from the pop-up on the camera, could have helped some here, but it would difficult to balance the flash with the full sun.

You have a nice pose, good composition, and good head angle. Softer light would have made all the difference in this one. Keep them coming!

[Matthew Pimm]

Thanks for all the thoughtful input, I guess my mood lighting experiment is a non-starter ...

Funny thing - he hopped up on a branch and told me so himself but I wouldn't listen.

[jack williamson]

Hello Matthew, Congrats on getting an image of this bird. Too bad about the head in shadow but sometimes you get what you can. I have a bird similar to this that visits my area evry now and then
( I think it is a Kentucky Warbler) but it is so skittish I can never get an image of it. I will let the moderators tell you about posting this second photo.

Jack

[Matthew Pimm]

. I will let the moderators tell you about posting this second photo.

Jack

OOPs - is that not allowed?

[Paul Guris]

Thanks for all the thoughtful input, I guess my mood lighting experiment is a non-starter ...

I think if the light that was on the shoulder had been on the head, and vice versa, it would have worked great. For me the shadows aren't an issue, just the fact that they land on the head.

[Matthew Pimm]

I think if the light that was on the shoulder had been on the head, and vice versa, it would have worked great. For me the shadows aren't an issue, just the fact that they land on the head.

That seems to be the consensus. I thought the shadow across the face mimicked his hood but the highlight on the body is too distracting I guess.

[Kerry Perkins]

Matthew, the forum guidelines allow one image per post unless you do a repost of the same image with a suggested change or similar situation. Please review the guideline post at the top of the forum main page.

Now that we got that out of the way... Much better light in this one! I would crop away the bright sun area on the right and tone down the similar area on the left. This is a cute pose but the straight-on from above angle compresses the perspective so the head and body look squeezed together. I hope you have more opportunities to capture this little cutie.

[Matthew Pimm]

Matthew, the forum guidelines allow one image per post unless you do a repost of the same image with a suggested change or similar situation. Please review the guideline post at the top of the forum main page.

Now that we got that out of the way... Much better light in this one! I would crop away the bright sun area on the right and tone down the similar area on the left. This is a cute pose but the straight-on from above angle compresses the perspective so the head and body look squeezed together. I hope you have more opportunities to capture this little cutie.

Sorry I forgot the rules. Actually the second post was an attempt at humor and not request for critique but I welcome it all the same. I guess shooting off a tripod restricts your ability to quickly get down low especially when these critters flit about so fast. The result from above is rather comical to me. Like birds in a cartoon. Funny to see how different the same bird can look - elegant in profile, like tweetie bird when distorted.