I was sitting inside my open back door, experimenting with fill flash on my feeder birds in low light, when this lass suddenly appeared. To my knowledge I've never had a warbler on my feeders, so I was startled when an American Redstart female showed up. Maybe a result of hurricane Irene? Better light might have given me higher SS and IQ, but I was pleased to be there when she appeared. (I just got the D7000 back from the shop, so I'll be able to up the ISO if she comes back.)
D90 | 80-400 VR @ 400mm | ISO 500 | 1/160s @ f/7.1 | -0.7 EV | fill flash at -2.7EV
Good angle here Bill, and I like the hint of yellow on the plumage. Good use of flash, as it seems subtle enough, not be over-powering. The lighter area behind the bird keeps drawing my eye, but not much you could there.
I saw a male many years ago in Oregon, but this lovely female is at least his equal for sheer beauty. Well done, and I can see nothing in IQ to apologise for.
Great bird and great fill flash use. I have never seen this bird in real life. My eyes must be old because I find the head a bit soft yet no one else has commented on it. Love the BG but wish the branch under the tail wasn't there,
Gail
Gail, I agree. In fact I found the entire image to be on the soft side, especially the head. I struggled to get the right USM balance between sharp and oversharp, but here's a repost with a little more selective USM that may be an improvement. I find that I get sharper images with higher SS (a no-brainer, but not possible in this light); and also when I back off the zoom on this lens to 370mm instead of 400mm, which in my excitement I must have neglected to do. Some combination of all those factors must have made the image a little soft. Also agree on the branch. I suppose, theoretically, that I could remove the portion behind the foot. Thanks for the comments.
"Yellowstart"
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