by Dennis Plank
The Bluebirds were foraging for ants that were coming out for mating flights the other night. There seemed to be quite a few in hte ferns above our pond and both Bluebirds were in them. I liked the way the in-focus fern worked with the female in this case. Sorry I clipped the end of one toenail.
7Dii, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, Jobu gimbal on RRS legs, f/8, 1/200, iso 640, aperture priority, pattern metering, -1/3 stop compensation (from immediately previous shots-I actually had to increse exposure in post processing here). Processed in LR5 & CS6. I isolated the bird and in-focus fern on a separate layer and desaturated the bg a bit. The fern and bird were sharpened, brightened and had contrast and saturation boosted a trifle. Taken June 21st at 8:27 pm. This part of the pond was in shadow by then, hence the low shutter speed. Full frame.
Please view larger image for the best impact.
Your comments and criticisms are appreciated.
Thanks,
Comments
3 commentsI like seeing birds in habitat, Dennis. I get tired of the "bird on stick" images that have become so common and would like to see more creative "where they live" images.
I wish the bottom center blooms wern't quite so OOF, but that is the nature of this kind of image. I like the peek-a-boo affect as well. Nice shot.
Nicely seen and composed habitatbehavior shot, Dennis. I find of out of focus flowers in the center foreground a little distracting, but I can't think what you could have done about them.
Really beuatiful this one, showing the bird in a pleasant framing. Great job, unfortunate about the clipped foot. That said, the rest is simply brilliant ! Cheers, Hans