Red Wing Black Bird

[Charles Daigle]

Recently made the switch from Olympus E5 + 300/2.8 to Canon 7D + 300/2.8 and have zero regrets! Much lighter and faster combination . It makes it easier to get the images in focus that's for sure!

This shot was taken last week in decent light, in a really wet marsh.

7D
300/2.8IS I
1/1000
ISO200
F4
1.4x II
Handheld
IS-1

[gail bisson]

Hi Charles,
I like the exposure on the bird.Nice open beak. I might burn the hot spots on the bullrushes and the BG.
I like the 3 stems and the variation in height.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Charles:
Congrats on the near gear. Some great images have been posted here from the 7D.

I like your image overall, and feel that Gail has given you excellent input. If mine, I would try to lower the luminosity of the background reeds to slightly less than the perch, so they aren't quite so eye catching. They add to the image, just too bright. You want them to recede slightly into the BG.

Look forward to more!

Cheers

Randy

[Charles Daigle]

Gail, thanks so much for the suggestions. I will definitely post up a reworked version tomorrow once I am back home! I really appreciate the comments!!!

Randy,

Thanks so much for responding as well. This is why I have posted here. I need to get some constructive critism!

Charles

[Humberto Ramos]

Charles, will wait the repots, Gail and Randy said everything.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details, a great shot.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Terrific image design, bird angle, placement of subject and calling pose. Sharp...and perfect blacks. Well done. loved the cattails.

[Charles Daigle]

Frank, thank you so much for commenting. It's the lens, not me!

Kaustubh, thank sso much. The sun was in just the right spot to get the blacks exposed. I always have issues with the blakcs, but in this case, it worked out quite well.

Gail/Randy. Here is the repost. I burned the entire BG by 1/3 of a stop and the front cat tail by 1/2 a stop. Here it is!

[Randy Stout]

Charles:

I think the repost is an improvement, with a better balance of luminosity levels. If mine, I would tone down the two cattails on the left just a bit more, they are still a bit bright.

Def. going in the right direction!

Cheers

Randy