Yellow-headed Blackbird

Gallery: AvianPosted January 29, 2013320 views14 comments

Yellow-headed Blackbird
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Taken on the wonderful Malheur workshop with Nate Chappell and Ken Archer
Malheur NWR, Oregon
April 2011
Canon 7D
300mm f4L + 1.4TC
1/640 s.
f8
ISO 400
Cropped to vertical and cloned out part of 2nd bird on left.

THANK YOU Nate and Ken for all the advice and patient instruction to take my bird photography to the next level.

Thank you for viewing, and for any and all C&C!

Post-posting edit: I reduced noise selectively on just the BG, but does the sky still look noisy??

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Verdon on January 29, 2013 at 2:10 PM

excellent, never saw shot resting them on ground, nice low POW and detail, top part of the background has some spots, easy fix
well done

Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on January 29, 2013 at 2:14 PM

Awww! He's so cute! I like his bright yellow head, his pose, and I also like how incredibly sharp it is! I'm really jealous of this picture because I absolutely adore little birds! Great image!

Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Rebecka on January 29, 2013 at 2:16 PM

REPOST: Sky noise - eliminated.

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on January 29, 2013 at 2:37 PM

Hi Rebecka,
Love the low angle, detail and pov here. You have already taken care of the sky which looked noisy in the larger image. Thanks for your comments about the trip.

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

Comment posted by Craig Strand on January 29, 2013 at 2:45 PM

Excellent capture Rebecka.

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Skip Layman on January 29, 2013 at 3:05 PM

It seems strange not to see him in cattails. You got a great opportunity and made the best of it.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 558 Posts, 1704 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Marella on January 29, 2013 at 5:53 PM

Great shot, Rebecka. Sharp and nicely exposed. I didn't notice any noise, but if you removed it all the better.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 142 Posts, 862 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 29, 2013 at 6:32 PM

Excellent, frame filling portrait. Removing the sky noise was definitely an improvement.

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

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on January 29, 2013 at 7:39 PM

Nice work on capturing this very contrasty subject Rebecka. The bird is sharp and I like the comp, but I do see some noise in the blues of the sky. I think you could crop down just enough to rid the most pesky noise at the very top if you have the pixels.

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

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on January 29, 2013 at 8:38 PM

A fine image. Lots of good color, the pose is great and the point of view excellent.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 29, 2013 at 11:02 PM

Excellent job, Rebecka. Great job on the exposure of an extraordinarily difficult bird. I also like the pose a lot.

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 30, 2013 at 3:47 AM

So that's what you were doing all sprawled out in the dirt. The photo you're displaying here was well worth the effort

Nice pose and excellent exposure work. I think the dual toned background puts this one over the top for me.

Sweet One Rebecka!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Barry R. Byrd on January 30, 2013 at 11:44 PM

well done!

Registered on December 20, 2005, 136 Posts, 970 Comments

Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on February 3, 2013 at 6:11 PM

I like this bird! He is so sharp and there is a lot of detail in the feathers! We get to see these every once in while but I haven't ever gotten a picture of one yet.

Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments