Female Red Crossbill

Gallery: AvianPosted January 7, 2011105 views13 comments

Delving into the files again, I came across this female Red Crossbill who posed on a setup perch for me this summer. I staked out a waterhole a couple times a week for a couple months. The crossbills came to water regularly for about the first two weeks, and I got shots of some of the wide variety of plumages they display.

Your comments and critiques are appreciated. Please view the larger version if possible.

Canon 7D, 500mm + 1.4x TC, monopod, kwik camo, set up perch, natural light.

1/640, f/6.3, ISO 400

Crop to 73% (13.2 of 18MP).

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on January 7, 2011 at 7:42 PM

Looks great to me as posted, Brian. We have a fine view of the cross bill of the Crossbill. Nice detail. DOF is well managed here with the tail and rhs wood OOF. Stands out well from the background. No distractions. Maybe a question would be whether or not to clone out the OOF wood at the rhs. Under the Principle of Minimum Cloning (I just made that up) I'd leave it as is.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 7, 2011 at 8:02 PM

Excellent as posted. Very nice detail.

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

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on January 7, 2011 at 8:42 PM

Lovely detail, Brian, especially in he larger photo. I love the sheen around the bill and face area.

Nice capture.

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Rebecka on January 7, 2011 at 8:49 PM

Wow, this bird looks like he's going to fly right off my monitor. Super details and love how he's looking right at you. The bokeh is gorgeous!!! Nice choice of a perch. (And isn't staking out birds a wonderful way to pass the time?) I also would consider cloning out the OOF branch on the LR, but lovely as-is.

Registered on February 5, 2009, 170 Posts, 924 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on January 7, 2011 at 11:30 PM

Perfect background; the colors are exactly right. Nice detail in the bird, too. I envy you the ability to get this close to a crossbill; our White-winged Crossbill rarely, if ever, come down from the cones in the tops of the spruces.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on January 7, 2011 at 11:30 PM

Nice one Brian - great detail in the larger image and the shadow is less obvious.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 7, 2011 at 11:36 PM

Beautiful, Brian. I like the pose and the palette in this one. If you want to play with cloning I think you could lose the oof part of the perch on the right, but it's no big deal either way. I particularly like the weather beaten look of the bill.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on January 8, 2011 at 1:16 AM

Wonderful light really shows off the detail in the larger version, good compositon and background, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on January 8, 2011 at 4:18 AM

Very nice colours and great details!

Congrats

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on January 8, 2011 at 9:12 AM

The light on the head area and the detail make this excaptional to me.

Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on January 8, 2011 at 10:18 AM

Great shot of this nice bird- excellent details, exposure and background- well done, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on January 8, 2011 at 12:06 PM

This is very nice. Perch great. I love the excellent detail in the feet and claws. Bird itself is really great as well. Keep going through those files.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on January 8, 2011 at 7:44 PM

Wow. I would love to have taken this one. Nice details and pose. I like the perch myself. Love how well this shows their amazing bills.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments