Red-winged Blackbird fem

Gallery: AvianPosted February 16, 201279 views6 comments

Last year, I spent a great deal of time photographing Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus).

They are wonderful birds. Usually, one sees photos of the males: all black with the red shoulder patches. The females don't seem to make it into photographs nearly as often, though they are beautiful in their own right, with this fine pattern of subdued brown coloring and the rusty shoulder patches. I love the way this one is hanging onto her perch, her distant look and the fanned out tail.

It's a fairly tight crop to show the bird. Is it too tight?

Canon 7D, Sigma 150-500 at 500 mm, ISO 800, 1/250 sec at f/11, handheld, large RAW cropped to 60 %, PP in LR3.

All C and Cs are much appreciated. Thanks for viewing. Roger.

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on February 17, 2012 at 6:17 AM

Nice pose, perch, comp and background. Well done!

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 17, 2012 at 5:31 PM

This composition is just a little tight for me. Since this was cropped you might consider a smaller crop to help on the image quality. The larger image looks fine (small halo around bird) with good detail and background. The crop seemed to hold up well but there is some softness around the head area but the perch and background look fine. A very nice image of the female blackbird.

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

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on February 17, 2012 at 7:44 PM

This is a real nice shot of the female. I really like the splayed tail, the perch, and the even background. As has been said, the head is a bit soft and the crop may be a little too tight. Very nice as posted however.

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on February 17, 2012 at 8:39 PM

This looks pretty sharp to me Roger and it's not too tight for my tastes. I'm ambivalent about the background stalk going through his belly but I probably wouldn't have cloned it out either.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Kirchen on February 18, 2012 at 10:37 AM

Thanks for all your comments and feedback. I'll revisit PP. Nate, I hadn't actually considered the belly-poking aspect of the second stalk. Thanks for pointing that out. I like the bulk of that stalk being there for balance, but it does indeed look a bit funny the way it ends. I'll try to clone away the very top and terminate the stalk with a broken top taken from another stalk. Thanks.

Registered on March 6, 2011, 95 Posts, 847 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on February 21, 2012 at 9:48 AM

Roger, I too enjoy the female red-wings. This is a very nice image.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments