Spotlighted Junco

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

This perch was a section of root from a shore pine (better known as Lodgepole Pine) that burned and blew over in a controlled burn a couple of years ago. I thought it had some really cool lines, so I salvaged it. I put it up as a peanut butter feeder a week or so ago and the Juncos just love it. It’s under a Douglas Fir and the morning light comes through another fir behind my blind, so by chance there was a nice spot light on the perch and when the Junco landed there, I managed two frames with this pose.

-20190130-_7D21737-untitled-Editlarge%20npn
-20190130-_7D21737-untitled-Editlarge%20npn1382×1600 1.44 MB

What technical feedback would you like if any?

I cloned out some peanut butter-any remnants I missed? Is the right hand trunk too out of focus?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

The camera was leveled and the right hand trunk was almost exactly vertical in the original, but I tilted it a bit right because I thought the composition worked better that way. Does it work?

Any pertinent technical details:

7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 516 mm, gimbal head mounted to blind, f/8, 1/640, iso 2000, manual exposure. Noise reduction with NeatImage, Processing in LR & PS CC. Cropped from a horizontal original, nearly full height. Taken January 30th at 8:31 am.

You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
2

At first I thought you used flash…that is terrific lighting, excellent.

3

Wonderful image Dennis. I especially like the really cute pose of this little guy. Although the lighting is superb, it did create a really dark shadow between the bird and the branch which I think a little fill flash might have corrected. I took the liberty of adding a little bit of feather detail back into that area and toned down some of the highlights on the branches. A little bit of sharpening on that OOF branch also helps it a bit.

Junco
Junco1382×1600 1.57 MB

1 Like
4

Dennis, the lighting and the pose are perfect. A lovely warm look. The comp. works well with the V of the trunk.

5

Thanks, Steve. It didn’t occur to me to mess with the shadow. I like your changes.