Chestnut-sided Warbler

[Christopher Ciccone]

Hi All,

Been a while since I have posted anything (mainly because I've tried to spend more time shooting and applying some of the lessons I've learned here!)

This is a photo I took l yesterday, attempting to utilize fill flash on a very overcast day.


Info:
Camera: 1D Mk III
Flash: 430 EX II
Exposure time: 1/300th (high speed sync, I think set to ETTL -1?) on a monopod.
Aperature: f10 (yep, didn't check my settings, just fired away when the bird alit close to me!)
Focal Length: 400mm on a 100-400 f5.6L
ISO: 400
Exposure bias: -1/3
Metering: Matrix
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority

Converted from RAW using ACR, some noise reduction using Neat Image, cropped and some sharpening in PS CS3.

Am I supplying way too much info here?

Cheers,
Christopher

[Joe Brown]

Definitely not too much info Christopher.
I know very well from recent personal experience how difficult these flighty little warblers are to photograph. The Chestnut-sided is very attractive bird.

You've done a good job of capturing him in his natural environment. If the image can handle it, I would try a tighter crop taking a fair bit off the left and some off the bottom. Looks like the bird could be brightened slightly. Although I am aware of the benefits using a flash in tough lighting situations, I am not a fan of the small pin-hole catchlight that the flash provides. I would attempt to replace it with a photoshop construct catchlight.

Joe

[gary ellwein]

A beautiful subject. We rarely get these guys out west. The whites have been handled nicely. I agree with Joe that a tighter crop, primarily from the left and bottom, would be helpful. Try lightly dodging the lore-eye area and see if some more definition can be obtained in this area. My eye is drawn to a bright spot in the bg to the right of the bird.

Gary

[Christopher Ciccone]

Thanks guys!
I am looking forward to spending a little more time with this file this evening & incorporating your suggestions.

[Gary Thompson]

Have you thought about a vertical crop on this one Christopher? It's a nice shot in it's natural setting. The catchlight needs some attention, IMO. I think you could brighten it just a tad also.

Gary

[Tom Redd]

Christopher, very well done. I would prefer a tighter crop, but not too much as I like the blossoms.

[Steve Wasson]

Nice image, Christopher! I'd prefer the Warbler a bit lighter. Tighten the crop a bit, perhaps, but I, too, like the blossoms. These fellows are hard to get in an ideal setting!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Christopher, this is a lovely little bird! Nice capture and setting, I like the included environment. I might only add that I would lose the OOF stick in the upper left corner by cropping a little from the top and the left. To my eye (just looking at my browser window and moving it around) this makes a very pleasing crop and solves a problem at the same time. Nice job!

[Stan Cunningham]

I would agree with Kerry and others, I like the habitat around the bird, contrast really well with his bright colors. Interested to see your repost with the eye work, I still get way too many with steel eye when I use fill flash as I'm trying to learn the best techniques myself and would like to see how you cleaned his up.
Beautiful bird and you did some thing right to get this close, good job and nothing wrong with F10 with that kind of background.

[John Chardine]

Hi Christopher- Nicely done. I too like the inclusion of the habitat. Agree that a recrop to remove the OOF branch UL would be an improvement. Your flash use is really good here because you can't tell you've used flash- that's the key IMO. On my calibrated monitor I would like to see the image brightened a bit (e.g., Levels in Photoshop), or selective dodging of the face/eye area to brighten that up and get more detail into the eye.

[Christopher Ciccone]

Hi all,
Here is a slightly reworked version where I have tightened the crop to remove the OOF in the upper left, tried a bit of patchwork to the bight area to the right, dodging around the eye a bit, and enlarging the catchlight a bit. A vertical crop was a suggested, which I do usually like, but I rather like showing the blossoms a bit more, and am a bit happier with the landscape crop myself.

Thanks everyone for the kind compliments and for all the great suggestions! I love having a forum where people are keen to help out folks like me improve!

I guess my biggest concern is... did I overdo it a bit?

[gary ellwein]

Well done Christopher. The only other suggestion would be blurring the vertical line in the left upper quad of the bg, creating a transition from dark to light.

Gary

[Christopher Ciccone]

Thanks Gary! Now that you mention it, I see that a softer transition/blend there would definietly make it a more pleasing image.