I spent a couple of hours in my blind on a cloudy day this afternoon and finally caught this moment. The head was a trifle soft, but I’m pretty happy with it overall, and a minor defect just gives me an excuse to keep trying for something better.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Anything
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Sony a6500, FE200-600 @ 594 mm, tripod with ball head and sidekick, f/8, 1/1250, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat Image and feather enhancement with Topaz Detail 3. I raised the exposure 2/3 stop in LR and did some local adjustment to increase the sharpness of the head. Taken today at 1:46 pm under cloudy skies.
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Knew this was your’s from the thumbnail. Nice pose, perch, and background as usual. Detail looks pretty good. What’s in it’s mouth? Looks very clear, yet very solid. Water on a seed or stem?
I love the pose, the colors and the background in this. The water in it’s beak confuses me, as does the partial wetness of the branch. Makes me want to see what’s below him.
Dennis, you really captured an interesting pose of this beautiful bird. I am sure you were set up to get the close shot, but I think that Terri brought out a good point, that revealing what’s below would be helpful to the viewer. I know what you mean, I do the same thing, when I have a slight flaw, it makes me want to go out again and see if I can get the shot right. It keeps pushing us to improve, and that is good. Still a great shot that I would be pleased to call mine. I like the perch he is on too.
@Allen_Brooks, It’s just water. Perhaps a better explanation up front would have helped here. The perch is a drip into the pond far below. Many songbirds, particularly the various finches we have, seem to prefer drinking directly from the drip rather than from a pool. The commercial drips are just a copper tube bent over at the top with about a 3 inch radius. We have one of those as well and I’ve seen three goldfinches lined up on it, impatiently waiting their turn. When I get a chance, I’ll post a follow-up shot to illustrate.
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Yeah I knew this was yours also because I’ve seen your set up. It’s really an excellent image despite the minor softness of the beak and drop. You really nailed the color and both bird and background saturation perfectly. The diagonals of both the perch and the bird really added making this a pleasing composition.
A unique catch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Feather detail and colors look good on the body. You noted the head softness. I like the perch and BG, although I’d run some NR on the BG. Very cool.
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Excellent Dennis, I love the color and the detail in the feathers. The water droplet on the beak is the icing on the cake. Thank you for sharing.
