Bushtits are hard for me to photograph, they flit through the branches, usually deep in the tree, and rarely perch in view long enough for a shot, so I was pleased to get this, though half the bird is hidden. I do like the setting. Addendum: I didn’t appreciate the noise until I opened it fully in NPN, so I went back and did some NR in Topaz.
Any.
Is this a composite: No
Canon 7DII; Sigma 150-600 at 600mm; 1/1000 at f6.3; ISO 1000
Oh what a cute little thing - the cedar fronds make a perfect frame. Good job correcting the noise. I noticed it in the first shot as soon as I saw it. The colors might stand a tiny bit of brightening if you feel like it and also maybe a brush of exposure on that little face. Really terrific shot of this bird just doing its thing.
Lovely little bird. These guys are tough to get as they really move around a lot. The setting is great. The NR helped the background but didn’t do any favors to the plumage on the bird. The repost just doesn’t have the level of detail that should be there in the plumage.
I love the composition and the half hidden bird, Allen. I agree with Kris that some minor adjustments could make the bird pop a bit better. I am surprised that Topaz did such a poor job on the noise reduction of the bird. You might try processing it separately. Given the plumage detail in the original post, you should be able to reduce the noise while still retaining good feather detail.
Really sweet capture, Allen. Love how he’s all puffed up in a little ball! You’re not kidding about them constantly on the move and I’m sure he was in this position for a few seconds! I really like the greenery it makes a nice frame around him. Nice capture!
Wonderful catch in a very nice setting! I’ve never seen one sit still long enough to focus my EYES on it, let alone a camera.
NR can be tricky. I usually do best with Topaz Denoise Low Light setting but sometimes need to tweak the sliders. The bird was a bit soft to start with and maybe some local lower-frequency “sharpening” with Texture in ACR/LR might help. I don’t think the BG needed any NR; I’d just mask it to the bird.
Hello, Allen, I am a huge fan of half-hidden birds, so from this perspective the image is already great. But there’s this issue with noise, and I would heed Diana’s idea of trying with Topaz while using the Low Light settings, since this leaves me often also with the best results. Worth to give it a try! Cheers, Hans
Thanks @Kris_Smith , @Diane_Miller, @Keith_Bauer, @Dennis_Plank , @Vanessa_Hill , and @Hans_Overduin for your comments and suggestions. I’ve re-worked this based on Dianne’s advice. As she pointed out, it was soft to begin with, so I think that hampers attempts at improvement. Basically, I liked this for the setting ( sometimes 1+1>2).
I think that’s an improvement, and maybe all you can expect. Looking more closely, it appears focus hit the tips of some of the branches so the plane of sharpness missed the bird a little. As a longtime Canon shooter, I had always been frustrated by what the AF sensor would grab, often well beyond the focus area I had set and lagging in time with a moving subject. With the R5, I find AF behaves much better than any of the previous bodies, up to and including the 1DX2.
