Black Phoebe Greets the Cold Morning w/Repost

[David_Bostock]

Repost with smoother background:

Original:

Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)

Captured this little jewell in our local Wildlife Refuge. Until recently, I had never seen them around here.

I spent a couple of years doing weddings and portrait work (hated it, turned my passion into a thankless, stressful, horrible job)…anyway, this fellow’s pose looking over the shoulder reminds me of some of the portrait work I did way back then.

I really like the little hint of frost on the top of the twig too…

Specific Feedback Requested

Any comments appreciated.

Technical Details

600mm, 1/500 sec @ f/8, ISO 640. Processed in Capture One, cloned out a couple of stray branches.

[Diane_Miller]

Gorgeous portrait! I can never resist softening the edges of OOF twigs in a BG with low-opacity cloning.

[David_Bostock]

I love it, @Diane_Miller . Will have to try this in Capture One. Thanks!

[Allen_Brooks]

Nice pose and overall look at the phoebe. Nice colors in the background as well.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Oh wow what a beauty. The light is darn nice and that head turn. The background and nearly eye-level positioning were good choices on your part. Terrific exposure, too. That is some vine it’s sitting on, too. Diane’s background massage worked a treat!

[Donna_Callais]

Gorgeous shot of this Phoebe. I love the thorny branch he’s perched on. Adds nice color. I love how @Diane_Miller softened the BG and edges of the branch. It really made the bird stand out. Nice catch!

[linda_mellor]

This is a lovely portrait of this little fellow, David. I also love the background, along with Diane’s adjustments. Very nicely seen and captured.

[David_Bostock]

Thank you, @Diane_Miller, @Allen_Brooks, @Kris_Smith, and @Donna_Callais for your comments and suggestions. Much appreciated.

I have taken @Diane_Miller’s suggestion and used the healing tool in Capture One, rather than the clone tool to smooth out the background edges, then took a brush with 100% negative clarity to smooth things out a bit more. That also helped with the noise in the background too. Posted above.

Thanks again.

[Donna_Callais]

Love the rework, David.

[Diane_Miller]

Wonderful! The perch looks like some of our invasive Himalayan Blackberries.

[David_Bostock]

Hi Diane, I know it’s a Blackberry bush, but not sure about the species. We have tons of Blackberry bushes here in the Pacific Northwest.

Cheers,
David