Yellow-Headed Blackbird

Gallery: AvianPosted May 4, 2012187 views13 comments

Another from Ridgefield NWR on the lower Columbia River, WA State. And another bird I have never seen before. Can't wait to go back!

D700, 300/2.8 with 1.4 TC; f 7.1, 1/1250, ISO 800; bean bag rest in car window.
Cropped to about 75% of FF for comp, blurred the left cattail more, levels adjustment, selective sharpening and noise reduction.

What do you think about the cattails? How does the processing look?
Thanks for looking and opining.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on May 4, 2012 at 6:53 AM

Love this species. Very nice shot overall. Singing pose, OOF cattails, and BG all work for me.

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

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on May 4, 2012 at 8:19 AM

A very nice capture of this beautiful blackbird Catherine. I love the signing pose and the spread tail, exposure is excellent as well. You did well with the post processing- the comp rocks.

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

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on May 4, 2012 at 9:43 AM

Very interesting background, I like the cattails. Great pose. Exposure looks very good.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on May 4, 2012 at 11:59 AM

Lovely, lovely work! The processing and pose are top notch. I could wish something less obtrusive than the large OOF cattail were there, but I can certainly live with it! The strength of the rest more than makes up for it! I question the need for NR; I think I see some very slight banding in the bottom of the darker gradient, which may have been due to the NR.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on May 4, 2012 at 2:35 PM

Catherine leave it just as it is,its a superb image.

Keith.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond Klassen on May 4, 2012 at 2:43 PM

I agree, the left cattail is about distracting, but the nice pose easily makes up for it. Nice shot!

Registered on November 30, 2008, 114 Posts, 790 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on May 4, 2012 at 7:57 PM

I do find the OOF cattail slightly distracting, but I wouldn't remove it though. They have just returned to our neck of the woods, and have been tough to get clean shots of.

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by jack jaeger jr on May 4, 2012 at 9:59 PM

Really great shot, great comp & bg

Registered on April 2, 2012, 26 Posts, 355 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on May 5, 2012 at 10:13 AM

Good capture and a vertical would work also. Process looks god on laptop..

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Kirchen on May 5, 2012 at 11:54 AM

Great pose, exposure and composition. I would leave the blurred cattail, not that they are blurred - this is the habitat..

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

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on May 6, 2012 at 12:20 AM

Catherine, this is gorgeous. Beautiful light and colors, perfect exposure, spectacular detail.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on May 6, 2012 at 8:02 AM

Beautiful bird. I like his spread tail. Just enough head turn and good look at the eye. The cattails are just fine to me-habitat is what it is, without creating too much busyness. I might try increasing the overall brightness of the image just a touch.

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

Comment posted by May Haga on May 8, 2012 at 8:12 PM

Very nice Catherine.
May

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