We had a spell of sunny weather last week and the mixed flock of Western Bluebirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Juncos that’s been hanging around actually came through at an opportune time on Sunday. My wife had noticed a couple of tiny mushrooms in a clump of moss and I’d gone out to photograph that when the birds arrived. I grabbed the other camera and for once they proved pretty cooperative.
Does the plain blue sky background work for this? Does the pose tell the story implied by the title?
Any pertinent technical details:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, hand held, f/8, 1/1250, iso 800, manual exposure, spot metering off dead grass. Processed in LR & PS CC. A touch of noise reduction, Topaz Detail to bring out feather texture in the bird a bit more and perch detail, cropped to a 9.9 MP 4x5. Taken at 11:55 am on November 18th (living north of the 45th parallel provides reasonably soft light even at noon this time of year-unfortunately when the clouds are out it means very little light at all).
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
The colors are great here. I do think the plain blue sky works as a nice canvas for the colors of the bird. Perfect composition that does show the intent in the title. The bird does seem a bit oversharpened, even viewed full screen, for my taste. But I really love the image. Very nice.
IQ looks great. Nice job on the sharpening. I’d prefer a more varied background, but sometimes you take what you can get. The shadow gives away that you shot in midday, but the light is not otherwise harsh. Finally, yes, I think the bird looking down goes perfectly with the title.
Wonderful shot. I love these birds, Dennis. As for the BG, I am always a little hesitant with the sky - but you cannot always have it way you want. That said, I’d be more than content with this image ! Cheers, Hans
