I was on the phone with my brother Sunday afternoon when this guy landed in the top of our little tree, so I put him on hold and started clicking (I keep my camera setting on a tripod and gimbal head at the window here by my desk for such moments).
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Everything look natural? I had to remove an out of focus limb right behind his tail (in fact, his tail was right at the limb), so the tail was cloned a bit. Does it look okay?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Does the crop/composition work?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600 mm C at 562, f9, 1/1000, ISO 320. Edited in Lightroom and Topaz.
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This is a very nice look at the shrike. The hook on the bill really stands out and the overall detail looks good. I’d say it looks natural. Nice to have your camera ready in such a perfect location in your home.
I agree with Allen about the hook which is the characteristics of this bird. If you have cloned the tail, I do not see any artifacts. Very nice, Shirley!
It’s beautiful image. It can be so hard to get the eye to show well with these birds with the black mask they wear and your photo shows the eye of nicely with catch light too!
Very nice pose and excellent detail, Shirley. I don’t see any evidence of the cloning. The shadows are pretty deep on the back of the bird and you might try bringing them up a bit, but be careful as it’s very easy to overdo that.
Dennis, I took your advice and tried to lighten the shadows on his back. You were right, I had to very careful as it was very easy to over do it. I don’t know if you can even tell that it is less shadow, but it seemed if I did any more (I think in LR I pulled the shadows back 3), it started looking bad, getting a blueish cast to it. Thank you all for your kind comments and advice.
Very nice image. I especially like that the eye visible in your image. I know from experience that with the black mask it can be difficult to capture this portion of this beautiful little bird.
Great image of this species, Shirley. Excellent techs - I particularly like the way you composed this image. Your cloning too has been done very well. Side lighting is always hard to deal, but I think you did very well here. The repost is subtly better - I can see a little more details around the eyes.
Wow Shirley - I’m jealous! I have no pics of this species and this is a fine capture. I think you handled this lighting quite well and I like the overall composition. The detail in the eye is super! Well done.
