Female Northern Cardinal

[Joel Eade]

Backyard setup with feeder and hide.

I did some images this morning in very cloudy, rainy conditions so I decided to experiment with higher than usual ISO settings...

1D3
500mm f/4L + 1.4 TCII
Tripod + Wimberly II
AV mode, evaluative metering, rear focus with center AF point only
ISO 3200
f/8
1/320
580 EXII + Better Beamer -2 2/3 stops

Removed the flash catchlight, converted with ACR then used CS5 for levels and selective color adjustment followed by Topaz Denoise, Nik Color EFX Pro (tonal contrast / detail extractor) then noise reduction on BG and finally a touch of USM.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Very different perch, It is a tad dominate but the overall picture is well balanced and has unique elements - nice one Joel.

[nancy hazen]

A great pose Joel, and i like the perch. I am amazed at how you cleared the noise at that high ISO. Great PP work as well.
Nancy

[John Goldman]

Excellent! I love the pose, BG, detail, perch, sharpness, color, composition, everything else.
One of my favorite birds to photograph.

[Ian Cassell]

Joel, I never would have guessed ISO 3200 if you hadn't said so. Great job! The perch is a bit overwhelming, but the bird stands out well.

[EzhilSuresh]

The bird looks fabulous. Looks very pleasing.