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Thread: Baltimore Oriole Among Blossoms

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    Default Baltimore Oriole Among Blossoms

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    Canon 5DII
    500mm f/4 + 1.4x
    From the car, on beanbag

    1/400 sec
    f/5.6
    ISO 400

    Took this a couple months ago at the Cornell Plantations here in Ithaca, NY. This is a female Baltimore Oriole in a blossoming apple tree. I think it had just started drizzling and she was slightly wet. I really like the BG and her intent stare. Smallish crop. NR, sharpening, some curves adjustment.
    C+C greatly welcome and appreciated. I hope you like it!

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    BPN Viewer Sachin Saraf's Avatar
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    Wow...the blossoms in focus and OOF makes the bird stand out...I might bring down the brightness of BG a bit.

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Hi Melissa. The blossoms are lovely, and I like the pose of the Oriole. She looks a little soft to me, and might benefit from another round of USM if it will take it. The large white blob on the right is a little distracting. If this is only a smallish crop, I wonder if a vertical presentation might be another option?

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    I like the composition and the bird pose. I also like all the flowers in and out of focus.
    I'd move the bird/branch a tad more to the left to improve the composition. I agree about toning down the background a bit.

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    Thanks for the suggestions. Here's a vertical, not sure how I feel about it. Did tone down BG a bit and tried to sharpen a bit more. I should have had a higher ISO esp considering I had my 5DII.
    Will also post a different horizontal comp as you suggest, Luis.

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    and a shift on the horizontal framing...

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    The vertical almost works, but I share your doubts about it -- maybe a little tight? Sharpness of the bird looks better.

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    Hi Melissa. I tried to make a few adjustments here. 1) you have a great image. A Oriole in the aplle blossoms is a great start. 2)
    you caught the ha just right, to me anyway. The changes: 1) Re-cropped just slightly different. 2) Adjusted shadows and highlights to open up the shadows. 3) I creased the black points, just a bit. 4) Did a reverse s curve, a trick I learned from Robert Amoruso.

    I feel the changes helped the oriole to stand out more, it was kind of blah and mutted. I also think the few white oof flowers help out the image and add to it. As for the sharpening of the eye, a matter of taste. Thats about it. It took about 2 minutes. I hope you do not mind. A very lovely image.

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    BPN Viewer Sachin Saraf's Avatar
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    I liked Grady's repost as it is not too tight and birds stands out nicely.

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    Grady, I really like what you did with it! THe bird may be a tad too light or bright, I'm not sure. But it really needed more overall brightness, I see that now. Unfortunately the lack of sharpness becomes more evident though, but that is my own fault. Thanks so much for your thoughts and repost.

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    Grady's crop is the way to go! Much more balanced.

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    Great display of the environment, I would prefer more eye contact. The image looks a bit soft due to slow shutter speed, you should be able to easily crank up the ISO 1600 with a 5D2
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    Pretty unusual to see birds next to such an abundance of white flowers
    This was a tough shot to make; Gradys repost works very well
    Lovely picture

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    I really like the feel of this image. The pose, and flowers are great. IMO the first vertical repost is the best, though it could use a bit more room. I think adding contrast selectively to the bird would really help it to pop.

    Looking forward to more!

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    Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions!

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