Northern Cardinal and re-do

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Northern Cardinal-NPN2
Northern Cardinal-NPN22500Ă—3125 1.35 MB

Northern Cardinal-NPN.jpg
Northern Cardinal-NPN.jpg2500Ă—3125 1.47 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

If there was one bird I could transplant from the east to the west, it would be the Northern Cardinal. This was taken in Central Park on a recent visit to NYC. This is pretty much the type of image I wanted to get of the Cardinal-against a nice green background to contrast with its colors.

Specific Feedback

Any thoughts appreciated.

Technical Details

Canon R5; 100-500 with 1.4 TC at 700 mm; 1/500 at f10, -1/3 EV; ISO 800

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2

Nice pose, Allen. The light’s a bit harsh, but not too bad-pulling down the highlights in the bird a trifle might mellow them out. To my eye, this feels pretty tight on the right side if you have more canvas over that way.

Plenty of these in the Southwest. Wikipedia’s range map shows a population in far southern California-possibly released cage birds from the old days when it was legal as it looks isolated on the map. Given climate change they’ll probably make Oregon eventually.

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3

I would LOVE to have them in my area, too! A nice pose but the colors are very warm and rusty, both on the bird and with a very warm cast on the BG. Part of the issue is the shaded areas on the bird, but I think you could go back to the raw file and tweak color settings a bit. Here’s a very crude attempt to show the idea, just with Color Balance. I wasn’t able to bring out the reds enough, and possibly it is just not a very colorful specimen.

Northern Cardinal-NPN-DM
Northern Cardinal-NPN-DM2500Ă—3125 1.54 MB

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4

Allen, you caught a fine head turn here, with a good look at this Cardinal showing lots of detail in it’s feathers and a good amount of habitat. I’m especially enjoying those chin feathers sticking out. I do see too much yellow and green in the bird (and possibly the surroundings). Even Diane’s tweaks leave the reds slightly on the orange side.

5

Thanks @Dennis_Plank , @Diane_Miller , and @Mark_Seaver for your input. I’ve re-posted after playing around with various color sliders and took some of the yellow out of the image.

6

The repost looks a lot better, Allen. Since I wasn’t there, I don’t know, but they do have a lot of variability in the “redness” of their plumage.

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7

Much better!

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8

excellent had turn and composition. Tough lighting conditions but the reposts really improves the image. I never realized how much glare these red birds can offer. We don’t see them out here in the Pacific Northwest

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