About four years ago, I cut down a small tree growing in front of these viburnum shrubs, but left a stump in the hope that I would some day get a Cardinal sitting on that stump while the shrubs were in bloom. Yesterday, it finally happened.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM zoom, f/9.5, 1/250 sec., ISO 400, Hand Held. Processed in ACR and PSE 2020 for exposure and sharpness. Topaz De-noise applied. Image is about 70 per cent of full frame.
Yum! You nailed this one, Terry. What a great setting for the Cardinal. Detail and saturation in the bird look excellent. When I first looked at it, I thought the Cardinal might be better a little further right in the frame, but this crop works beautifully with the Viburnum flower clusters, so I think it’s just fine as-is. I think this is your best to date.
Very nice frame. Lovely setting, nice head turn. While I was working on your image I see Dennis posted a comment. I disagree on the position of the bird. It is just too centered. That was my very first reaction. Here’s a version with a crop from the right, a bit of canvas on the bottom, brightening up the bird just a touch and a little dodge around the eye.
By the way, the image did not have a color profile embedded. That will cause it to look different for nearly every web browser. sRGB is the preferred color profile for any image posted for viewing in a web browser.
@Dennis_Plank Thanks, Dennis. I played with several crops and finally settled on the one you see. It was such a terrific photo op, I just tried not to screw it up!
Hi, @Keith_Bauer . I like what you did with the image, too. Whenever I try to dodge and burn around the eyes, it seems to look unnatural. Yours looks good. Someone else mentioned to me on another photo I posted that there is no color profile embedded. However, I have it set to sRGB in PSE, and it shows such in the metadata before I run it through Topaz, which seems to erase all the data. Could it still be there and just not displaying, or is something actually removing it in the processing? Thanks
The photo that you are working on in PSE is either a PSD file format, or possibly a jpeg. In either case, when you export a jpeg for posting, that is where the color profile is not being carried forward. The profile needs to be embedded in the exported JPEG. I don’t know where that it is PSE. I only use PS and/or LR for exporting images.
Okay. I’ll process another photo and see if I can determine the problem. I usually export the image from PSE in Tiff, then import to Topaz which automatically exports it as a jpeg (I think). Maybe that’s where the glitch is occurring. Thanks
Ahhh…I think I found the problem, @Keith_Bauer . On my final export from PSE as a jpeg, I had neglected to check the “Embed Color Profile” box. Hopefully, the glitch is now fixed. Thanks for calling that to my attention.
Hi Terry. I’d have Topaz export it as a Tiff and do your exporting from LR. If you check out how to do it, you’ll find that it’s really slick. You can set up all kinds of different export parameters and save them for use whenever you need them. You can also call any of them up and change them as needed in the export dialogue. It works really well.
Hi Terry
I think you have a great looking Cardinal and Viburnum Bush. If the Cardinal was in a 4/3 or 5/7 frame instead of a square, I believe the centering question would go away.
Peter
Excellent pose and background. This is a superb environmental shot. I do agree with the crop that Keith did for you. Exposure, level of saturation, and detail are perfect.
The vertical comp is much nicer over the original. The cardinal has some nice color pop and details. Your choice of camera settings worked well for the shot. Excellent photo…Jim
