Siberian Stonechat
(Saxicola maurus)
Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, INDIA
Jan 3, 2011, 4:38pm
Taken with 1D Mark IV, 500 F/4, 1.4 TC
1/2500, f/9, ISO 640 @ 700mm
Siberian Stonechat
(Saxicola maurus)
Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, INDIA
Jan 3, 2011, 4:38pm
Taken with 1D Mark IV, 500 F/4, 1.4 TC
1/2500, f/9, ISO 640 @ 700mm
Great image, especially HA and eye contact, pose and branch too.
You did very well with the side/back light here.
A fill flash could lit the dark leg IMO.
Ilija
Ilija thanks a lot and you gave really important note about filling flash. Unfortunately we in india almost 99% bird photoraphers or birders avoid filling flash or using them on sanctuaries. Most of National park have banned the flash too.
Perfect complimentary background. Love the thorny perch and the way that its shape loosely echoes that of the bird. Oh, almost forgot, the bird is sweet as well. Nice engaging pose.
Mital, excellent shot. eye contact, sharpness, comp., perch, BG....whites....everything looks good. excellent HA becasue the angled light has fallen nice and square on the head.
Works very well for me. Sweet BKGR. Wonderful pose and head angle. I love that the thorns below the bird are sharp but that they blur as they head into the distance. A bit of bill clean-up would be optional, but....
I would definitely lighten the dark circular area about 1/3 of the way on the branch past the bird and the other dark area at the tip of the branch. The latter looks like a huge dust spot.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.
Nice and sharp, perfect HA, sweet perch and BG. Not much more to ask for! The subtle tweaks suggested by Artie can go a long way in polishing up the final product.
Everythings great about the image BG ,thorny perch and the HA.
I like it. Agree about the suggestions regarding the dust spot mark . Nice bg too

Great shot, amazing BG...
Beautiful details, nice head turn and nice clean bg, Mital. The perch is beautiful and so is the comp. Very nicely done.
Perfect sharpness on the image with a lovely bg, brilliantly executed Mital
Lovely IQ, great DOF and the perch is great....Stands out nicely from that complimentary BG
Thank you all for your kind appreciation and suggestion..
+Artie Guru : Point Noted well to correct in final for those spots. dont know how i might go for that dark areas you said to brighten
superb HA and details..nice perch and clean bg
Started with the Patch Tool and it was OK but decided to cover the whole thing with a Quick Mask of the branch above it--transformed and warped the QM as described in APTATS I. Bill clean-up with the Patch Tool as detailed in Digital Basics which contains the basics of using Quick Masks. Really nothing too fancy.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.
Guru ji (Sir Ji),
A very useful hint for sure. seems like have to learn QM work. I've been good with Clone Stamp Tool, Patch healing tool and layers. never used masks as find it hard from start to work on (Don't know why)..
will sure follow those two links you share and try now onwards.
thanks a ton.
I just love this site for this reason. so much to learn and share.
YAW. I used one or more Quick Masks on 90% of my images. Learn the basics in Digital Basics and the advanced stuff in APTATS I. Also in Digital Basics in the last free update is Layer Masking for Dummies.... I make it simple-simple. Took me years to learn well enough to teach it simply. Best $20 you will ever spend (Digital Basics).
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.
Thanks Guru
will sure order it soon.
btw here is what i've made using clone tool and quick magic wand(most familiar with that and layers)
suggest me if i've made something better
You did a fine job for a guy who said he could not do it!
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.
and who is eye opener ? You of-course guru
I may need your detailed feedback in three hours i am gonna post.