Pine Siskin

Gallery: AvianPosted July 22, 201187 views10 comments

This one has a bit of a story. I set up near our water feature one evening and had just shifted the camera to try to get a better bg when this little fellow landed on my lens. He stayed for at least 30 seconds while I asked him to go pose somewhere then flew over to this rock beside the pond, staying there for three frames before hopping down to drink where I didn't have a view. This was the last frame before his departure. I like the beautiful condition of the plumage and I find the pose interesting. I do wish I had composed this better as I have no room on the left to add. I burned the leaf coming out of the back slightly to reduce the brightness. If anyone knows a good tutorial on that subject I'd love to know-I have a great deal of trouble making that tool give good results.

1DMkIV, 500mm f4 IS + 1.4 TC, Black Widow on Gitzo legs, f13, 1/1600, iso 1000, Av mode with -2/3 compensation, cropped to 10.3 MP. Minor adjustments in levels and curves. No saturation bump and only the tiniest bit of sharpening. Taken July 10th at 7:16 pm.

I always appreciate your comments and criticisms.

Thanks for looking.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on July 22, 2011 at 11:00 PM

Excellent image Dennis. My first thought was, I wonder what he's looking at? love the pose and I don't think you really need more on the left.

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on July 22, 2011 at 11:22 PM

fun story, Dennis, and a nice looking siskin with fantastic detail. comp might be better with more to the left but it works for me as is.

for those selective brightness adjustments I've found I really like the adjustment brush in ACR. I use a soft brush (feather 100), select an exposure adjustment (say -0.50 stops to start with), then paint over the area I want to reduce the brightness of. Then you can tweak the adjustment however you want, sometimes I will bump it all the way to -1 stop. this can create some diffuse halos if you're not careful, but is generally a quck and effective tool.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Hussain Nalwala on July 23, 2011 at 8:15 AM

Beautiful..... the colors are excellant.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 298 Posts, 339 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on July 23, 2011 at 8:22 AM

I love the story. Don't you feel special when even the birds think you are kind enough to come near-I don't mean that sarcastically. I like the curious pose of the bird. Unfortunately the burning of the leaf left it over saturated-a recurring problem of mine as well. Sometimes the desaturation portion of the burn/dodge tool will help. But I like Brian's suggestion and I'm going to try it next time.

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 23, 2011 at 8:24 AM

Nice sharpness and natural color, I find the pose interesting too Dennis. I've only had one experience with a bird landing on my lens, it was the siskin also..
Only thing I can say is the old steadfast rule of getting it the way you want it to start with, but easy to say.
All the tools have their limitations of course.
Well done & have a great weekend

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on July 23, 2011 at 8:46 AM

Very neat story Dennis, I'm glad he listened to your request! I like the pose and the inquisitive look and the crop is fine IMO.

And thanks to Brian for the PP tip.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 23, 2011 at 10:29 AM

Thanks for the tip, Brian. I'll give it a try.

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

Comment posted by Julia Flanagan on July 23, 2011 at 6:23 PM

Well I was going to comment that perhaps there was a little oversaturation - but I see you didn't bump it up any. But I think I would still back off on it. If find the colorful and bright bg a bit distracting. Perhaps a little burning there would help. Wonderful detail in the feathers. I too like the pose. I think I would like more room llc for him/her to view into if you have it.

Now - can you give lessons on how to get birds do what I say?

And to Angela's comment, speaking for myself, I feel super special when any animal feels comfortable enough to come near to me. It is like I'm drawing a little closer to the garden of Eden.

Registered on November 13, 2003, 59 Posts, 986 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on July 23, 2011 at 7:26 PM

Dennis,

I love the pose and how the siskin appears very interested in something below it. Nice look at the eye and beautiful plumage. The brightish yellow leaf coming out the back does compete with the yellows of the bird some, if you mask the bird and rock, then invert you could reduce the yellow saturation some and see if that tones it down some?

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

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on July 23, 2011 at 8:05 PM

OOOh love it Dennis. The perch is great as well the light on the bird. I would tone down the bright yellow oof branch in back if it were mine.Congratulations on getting the shot before he left you and I love that you 'asked him" to pose ... anywhere but on the lens LOL.

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