This adult Sharp-shinned hawk showed up at our backyard feeder station in the rain yesterday. I suspect it’s the same bird that’s been coming around for three years now, though it’s impossible to be sure.
I was able to keep dry by just cracking one of the doors to the back porch enough to stick the camera out and brace it against the side of the porch.
Specific Feedback Requested
Does the processing look overdone?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Sony A1, FE200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 823 mm, hand held, f/9, 1/400, iso 4000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped from the horizontal to 2976x4000 pixels. Microcontrast adjustments to the bird and perch, a bit of Tony Kuyper’s “Make it Glow” and some final adjustments to saturation brightness texture, etc. using the local adjustment brush in LR. Taken yesterday at 5:07 PM.
Excellent color and detail. Terrific head turn. I have no problem with the processing. I could see leveling the perch and either cropping or removing the tan area at the bottom. It pulls my eye. The perch is wonderful!
Nicely detailed and sharp, you did a good job ! What I can’t get my head around, is the difference in BG colouring above and below the perch - must be a simple explanation for it, but it keeps attracting my eye. Great bird as well of course, whether the same or a different individual . Cheers, Hans
How lucky you are to have visitors like this. Does the hawk come to look for a small bird dinner?
You’ve captured a great pose. Wonderful background and perch. Love the raindrops. The image doesn’t look over-processed.
I agree with levelling the perch and perhaps losing the brown area on the bottom edge. Maybe some careful perch extension? The wet looking, top of the perch is a little distracting for me. I think a soft, reduced opacity cloning brush along that edge would work OK?
@Hans_Overduin By sheer bad luck the height of the cross bar and the camera position put the bar right at the junction of our prairie and the fir trees along our back boundary. After all these comments, I’ll play with the bottom. The bird was back twice yesterday in better light. Some preening poses in the works.
@glennie I’ll have to work on the top of the fence rail. Thanks!
A very nice portrait! The long streak of a raindrop below the perch made the bottom look like a seam in patio tile to me. Would be easy to clone out that streak and change the color of the bottom area to be more like the top.
. Cheers, Hans