Eastern Blue Bird

[Mike Wilhelm]

I'm interested in suggestions on this shot taken at our local wetlands area using a Nikon D7000, 300mm F4 w/1.7 TC. Exif info in 1/400 sec, F9, ISO 250, exposure bias -2/3. Things like crop, brightness, saturation etc., too much, too little. These are always things I question. I'm using Elements 9 to process. Thanks for your help.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Mike,

I like this picture and here are my initial thoughts. In terms of saturation , it is not over the top how much was applied. The picture is beautiful and the crop is an opportunity to strengthen the image but there are variables that need to be considered. For example, more habitat might help, it does seem tight to me but I am not sure what lies outside the crop. I am jumping around here, the ISO could be higher especially with a Nikon kit. When you double the ISO a stop of light is gained. In this case, ISO 500 wold have allowed a 1/800 shutter and possible provided more detail. Just keep in mind, it provides options for adjustments with either the aperture or shutter as needed - nice to have this flexibility.

The head angel and detail look fine, the composition is the issue for me. I might try a pano crop providing more room for the bird to look into the fame. Let's see what others say, on balance I like the picture. What a beautiful subject you were in the right place at the right time for sure.

[Mike Wilhelm]

Thanks, Jeff, for the suggestions. The amount of crop did bother me. I tend to closely crop for some reason. Since this was taken in a natural environment, there is room to take the crop out some. I'll keep the ISO factor in mind. While I hate noise in my shots, ISO 500 shouldn't have made that much difference. I have to give credit to my wife for being in the right place at the right time. She and my daughter were taking a walk and called me to tell me the blue birds were all over the berries on this bush. I'm a lucky man!

[Kerry Perkins]

Mike, I think you and Jeff have covered all the issues I see in the image. A looser crop will help with the image quality, which has suffered because of the crop (evidenced by the reduced amount of fine detail), and give you the opportunity to move the bird from the center of the frame. Color balance and saturation look good to me but I might lighten the image just a tad. Could use some noise reduction on the background.