After our first snow, I took to the hills and encountered Mountain Bluebirds. At mid AM the light was unusual with partly cloudy upper atmosphere and patchy ground fog. The ground fog accounts for the background. Nikon D200, 600mm with 1.4TC, f4.5, 1/3200, iso 200, spot metering, manual mode, beanbag on truck window. PP PSCS5 levels, focal dodge and burn, USM. C & C appreciated.
Greetings. The color is appealing with the unusually neutral background. The strict profile and centered composition would benefit from the subject angled more toward the front and a bit more room on the left. Really like the color.
First, this is a beautiful baby and thanks for sharing the moment. From a composition or placement perspective less perch and as noted by Michael, rule of thirds would help move the subject from the center. Regarding exposure, the breast seems to have blown highlights. That seems weird given the techs, they seem solid, what did you meter on. Best to expose for the bright areas and set accordingly. As you know, get that right and everything will fall into place. Is this a f/4.0 lens, with the 1.4 it would it be at least a f/5.6. I am a Canon guy so not sure about the lens data. They might make 600MM a f/2.8?
I love the Bluebirds. Detail is alright given the focal length and beanbag. Did you run noise reduction and use a sharpening technique. On balance watch the bright areas, expose accordingly and play with placement - thanks for the picture. Please keep em coming.
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 10-11-2011 at 06:50 PM.
Jeff, thanks for the critique. I was not using a teleconvertor. The original info was in error. Would love a f2.8 600mm if they existed. Mine is f4.0. I played around with the metering, using the snow at + 2 or the grey fence posts zeroed out. These were giving reasonable results. This particular image was underexposed a bit.. If the whites appear blown, I did it in post processing. I selectively sharpened the bird using Art Morris's recipe of USM 125, 0.2,0.0 x 3 on the small jpg. I struggled with the crop and placement of the subject. Repost has eye at the right upper power point. I toned down the whites on the breast.
The image is wonderful, but I think I'd back off the sharpening just a bit. The head in particular has a bit of a "Photoshopped" look, almost like it was placed on the background. Maybe backing off the contrast rather than the sharpening would produce a more natural looking result. All in all a sweet image.
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD
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