Red-winged Blackbird-Repost

It was just on side of dike and I could not resist the nice shoulder flashes.

Specific Feedback Requested

Anything.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
R5, 500mm + 1.4 Ext., f/5.6, 1/500, ISO3200, Cropped to 84% of full frame. I removed a couple twigs on right side.

Oh how great. I can practically hear that watery trill he’s doing. The shoulder flash is fab, but I’d snip that little branch sticking up. You could poke your eye out! lol

Excellent epaulets on this specimen, David. You caught a great singing pose. I think you could go a bit darker on the blacks without losing feather detail.

Hi David, really nice singing pose with excellent exposure. Nice composition with subject well placed in the frame. I like the arc of the perch. Well done.

Very nice and as Dennis suggests, play around with the blacks for perfection. Overall, my type of image with a visually interesting pose and perch. Comp is very nice and I like the simplicity of the arrangement. Awesome…Jim

Thanks @_Kris , @Allen_Sparks , @Dennis_Plank , and @Jim_Zablotny for the comments. They are always helpful.

I had also looked at the blacks just before I finished with the image and did add a couple points of black. Perhaps not enough. Here is another look with a bit of shadow and black added.

I had also thought about taking out the upper twig but then I would be tempted to take out the bottom twig. And the top twig I think influenced or at least adds to the position of the adjacent wing so the twig remained. Thks for the suggestion tho.

2 Likes

Much better with the adjustments to the black plumage.A very nice comp with excellent detail and sharp perch. Pun intended.

Very good job on the repost, David. My take on blacks is that trying to get deep shadow detail on a black bird is silly. It’s not observable in the wild so why try to bring it out in a photograph? Off the soapbox now.

Most excellent on the repost…Jim