House Finch

Gallery: AvianPosted March 10, 2010107 views11 comments

House Finch taken with Canon 50D. I tried some differant PP and sharpening on this and would like some honest opinions. C&C welcome.

Shooting Mode
Manual
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/250
Av( Aperture Value )
8.0
Metering Mode
Evaluative
ISO Speed
250
Lens
400.0 mm
Focal Length
400.0 mm

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on March 10, 2010 at 3:37 PM

I believe this is a purple finch - not a house finch. Purple finches have significantly more color as evidenced in this photo.

Sharpness looks good and there are no halos, though the bird looks like it was blasted with a flash. Could you post the original unedited photo for comparison?

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Clayton Musgrove on March 10, 2010 at 4:11 PM

I did use flash. Is it too much?

Registered on February 6, 2010, 55 Posts, 235 Comments

Comment posted by István Molnár on March 10, 2010 at 4:52 PM

Good composition and colors.Nice lights.
István

Registered on January 7, 2010, 114 Posts, 704 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 10, 2010 at 5:15 PM

Luke's right - Purple Finch. "diped in raspberry juice" as RTP used to say.

Nice setting, and finch's body position. Flash a bit stronger than I prefer: its taken out the shadows and made the bird two dimensional. There's also a "pated on" look where the bird and branch meet the background - I'm assuming you did NR on a BG selection, and sharpening on the subject. It is easy to overdue the difference between subject and field this way and get an artificial look in the process.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Clayton Musgrove on March 10, 2010 at 5:38 PM

Thanks Rich and Luke. I think we get all three here (Purple,House,& Cassin's), sometimes even all together, which makes ID confusing. I don't normally use flash but thought I would give it a try. It was cloudy and they were perching in a shaded area. If I do any more of it I will upgrade to a better flash with more manual settings and HSS. Thanks again for your help.

Registered on February 6, 2010, 55 Posts, 235 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on March 10, 2010 at 7:01 PM

It's not the the use of flash was bad, it certainly did a great job of showing the color. It's just that the flash was a little strong - you can reasonably correct this with your RAW converter or in PS. I'd be happy to help you if you wanted to send me a hi-res .TIFF if you are unsure of how to go about this process.

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 10, 2010 at 7:59 PM

I agree with Luke and Rich's comments on this one Clayton. Not much else to add.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 10, 2010 at 8:06 PM

A very pretty little bird and a nice shot. Good perch, pose and BG.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on March 10, 2010 at 8:33 PM

I like it. The light and colors are great

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on March 10, 2010 at 8:55 PM

Very nice detail and color! Looks very sharp to my eyes.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on March 12, 2010 at 5:48 PM

Clayton,

I like the setting and loves the Purple Finch's pose. I agree that this has a flashed appearance to it, you might be able to tone that down some in post processing (better to handle it in the field though) . I like the comp you used and the sharpness.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments