Female Blackpoll warbler (+2 re-works)

An attempt to clone out the top of the big tree in back -

While her mate might be more striking in appearance, this female was a little more acrobatic in her quest to hoover up the bugs on the underside of this branch. She wasn’t far from him, but in a little more shaded area so the ISO went up a bit and I increased my shutter speed as well to catch her antics. Since I’m going to be gone for a few days without my laptop, I will put the series here. Hope she makes you smile as much as she does me.

Oh and check out that one white tail feather. Funny.

With less sky and a touch of exposure on her -

Specific Feedback Requested

Anything for improvement

Technical Details

Handheld with elbows on deck railing, bad for the neck, but good for a bit of stabilization.

image

RAW processing in Lr to even tonalities and bump saturation, texture and sharpness in the bird. Used masking to select subject and increase exposure on her, inverted the mask to reduce noise in bg. Topaz sharpen to bring up details. Photoshop to remove distractions, but with her, I needed to do this far less since that background was so clear and in the distance. She’s even got a bit of sky.

1 Like

Love the series, Kris. Great action.

A very good series, Kris. My favorite is the second image with the eyes on either side of the twig. In the first image, I find the vertical element on the left distracting, though with the pose of the bird in the third, it works fine. I think you could blend it in or clone it over completely without much difficulty.

Thanks @linda_mellor & @Dennis_Plank - she was so fun to watch. Glad I spotted the pair of them.

I’ll see what I can do about that tree, Dennis, because that’s what it is. It didn’t occur to me that it could be a distraction, but maybe CAF can deal with it.

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Awesome series, Kris. Really great catch of the behavior.

Very nice series of behavioral shots. Colors and detail look spot on. I do find my eye drawn a bit towards the sky, Would it be too tight to crop most of it out in the second shot?

Thanks @David_Bostock & @Allen_Brooks - she was a treat to watch. I can see about cropping or otherwise toning down the sky when I get home.

Hi Kristen
All three shot are nice, but the second is by fare the best. nice work.
Peter

Thanks @peter - yeah, that was a lucky grab for sure!

I’ve re-worked the first shot to minimize the big tree in back and cropped some of the sky in the second. Let me know your thoughts.

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Excellent job on the reworked images, Kris.

Thanks @Dennis_Plank - one of the reasons I like it here - new sets of eyes with talent and experience.

Hi
Kristen
You did a good job on cloning out the tree. ( not always easy thing t do). You gave us a a very nice sequence.
Peter

Thanks @peter - I’ve gotten better at the cloning thing over time. The key is to break up silhouettes and patterns by using a variety of clone source material. Also varying the opacity of the brush helps to keep things from looking obviously duplicated.

Hi Kristen
Thank you for the information.
Peter