The thaw started yesterday and it’s been raining most of the time since about 3:00 yesterday afternoon. There’s still too much snow on the ground for the ground feeding birds to get to their normal sources, so I have Towhees, Varied Thrushes and even a Song Sparrow coming to my feeders. This Varied posed quite nicely in a fir near my blind (unusually so as they’re usually half hidden.).
Specific Feedback Requested:
Anything. I straightened this about 5 degrees CCW and had to do a little fill on a couple of edges even after the crop.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Is this a composite? No.
Sony A7Riv, FE200-600 @ 500 mm, gimbal head mounted to blind, f/8, 1/160, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Brought the highlights up and shadows down in RAW, cropped and some burning of background elements in PS, Neat Image for noise reduction and Topaz Detail for a bit of feather enhancement. Taken this morning at 8:51 am in the rain.
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Such a beautifully colored bird. One day I hope to see one in person. It stands out nicely against the green background with no distractions. I’m glad you have a feeder for them for the harsh cold you’re experiencing.
Dennis, that’s a really eye-catching bird. The colours contrast very well with the dark green of the tree. And I like how its perch is in focus, along with the head. The small spots of snow visible here and there complete the wintery picture. Excellent shot!
Beautiful! I just saw one the other day but couldn’t get a good picture of it. But enough to find out what it was! Nice green background for the orange and black!
Oh how wonderful. What a gorgeous little being. It seems a bit on the magenta side to me and I’d like to see the eye a little brighter. Great contrast with the branches. What a pose!
I’ve never seen one of these birds and probably never will so, thanks for posting, Dennis. Man, you caught him in a terrific environment. What a pleasing background and nice pose. Hope your weather moderates soon.
Great pose and detail and a nice setting with the water droplets being a nice addition. I would agree with Diane about the color. There seems to be a purple cast to the image. On the other hand, I seem to recall some of my images of varied thrushes having a purplish quality in some of the feathers, but in looking through several books, I can’t find this being described.
Hi @terryb@Rick_Alway@Kris_Smith@Vanessa_Hill@Allen_Brooks@Diane_Miller@Mark_Muller Thanks for all the comments. I’ve added a revised version just below the original. I just took the posted version into LR and used the white balance selector on one of the brighter highlights then reduced the exposure a bit because it got unnaturally bright for a rainy winter day. See if it makes a difference to you.
The colors of your repost are much improved. The grays should be the color of dark smoke and you may have to bump down the violets if you so desire. …Jim
Yeah, the repost is considerably better with respect to the colors. Nice pose, detail. Never seen one of these around my house, only the common lawn thrush.
Nice one Dennis. I have never seen one naturally in a tree. Only when they were teased up to a feeder.
A really nice pose. The repost does look better.
