Red-Winged Blackbird

Gallery: AvianPosted July 11, 20171,307 views14 comments

In May I drove through eastern Idaho on my way to Yellowstone, stopping at a couple of the nice wildlife reserves north of Idaho Falls. At Camas NWR there were loads of Red-winged blackbirds staking out perches and putting on territorial displays, which could be photographed from the car window. I don't think I've ever seen such intense displays from these guys before.

In terms of composition, normally I'd think a nice frontal display like this would call for a centered composition, but the majority of the branches were off to the left, so that and the bird's leaning pose lent itself better to an off-center placement for the subject, IMO.

Canon 1DX
Canon 600mm + 1.4x
ISO 800
1/800th
f/5.6

Max

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on July 11, 2017 at 1:20 PM

Perfect, Max. I wouldn't change a thing. devil

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on July 11, 2017 at 2:41 PM

Max this is the best RWBB image I've ever seen. Great timing to get this guy with a square on pose and open bill. A square crop would work well, but as shot the environment makes for a more compelling comp. Wonderful work cool

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on July 11, 2017 at 2:42 PM

Love the mixture of the pale branches and the vibrant bird. Cracker !! Comp looks good to me.
John

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on July 11, 2017 at 2:42 PM

Excellent. It is so difficult to get a shot like this (at least for me).

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on July 11, 2017 at 2:44 PM

Max this RWBB image is as good as it gets. Great timing to get this guy with a square on pose and open bill. Although a crop would work well, as posted the environment makes for a more compelling comp. Wonderful work cool

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on July 11, 2017 at 3:26 PM

Great pose and posture from the blackbird Max as well as the angry expression. I agree with your choice of crop. I don't think I've ever seen one with that much red showing on the shoulders.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on July 11, 2017 at 4:22 PM

Love this one, Max, and the comp is just perfect IMO. The neutral and white background make a wonderful contrast to the striking colors of the bird. And that expression on his face is just great.

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 11, 2017 at 9:50 PM

A very cool pose, Max, and the exposure of the blacks looks really good. For my taste a little more room on the right would be nice, but it's a tough call with all the twigs to find the best crop location.

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

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on July 11, 2017 at 10:12 PM

A nice pose. I'd probably go with something closer to a squra format with the left side cropped (although I do like the branches there).

For me the big issue is the exposure of the red epaulets - these are feathers and should show feather detail. There's a hint of texture in the bird's left wing that you might be able to bring out with some careful raw conversion work. There's even less texture in tghe bird's right wing so I'm not sure if that can bde rescued.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on July 11, 2017 at 10:37 PM

Thanks everyone.

Richard, that's an interesting point about the red shoulder detail. I didn't both intensifying the color at all (if anything, I suppose reds can sometimes can be too intense out of the camera, so more often than not I find myself reducing them a bit). Examining the original RAW file, I'm not seeing a lot of texture that can be brought back. It's fairly subtle in the shoulder on the right. The left wing (that is, the bird's right wing), could be a tick sharper had I increased the DOF a bit (I was fairly close), so perhaps that would have brought a bit more texture back in.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on July 12, 2017 at 1:07 PM

This is an inspiring image. I agree that you could have more detail on the red feathers however, the contrast between the blacks, the reds, and the background works well. I'm fine with the crop. I find the conundrum of twigs to be fascinating.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Moreau on July 14, 2017 at 9:14 AM

Max, I think this is great! I like the way you framed this, and the bird's pose is perfect. I was out trying to photograph these guys last weekend, and found it to be very difficult, so I appreciate this even more. More detail in the reds would be nice, but it doesn't bother me much.

Registered on April 21, 2015, 64 Posts, 584 Comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on July 16, 2017 at 11:59 AM

What an amazing shot of this beauty. Well done!

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Lucy Aron on July 24, 2017 at 12:47 PM

Really nice take on one of my favorite birds. The foliage works beautifully against the subject.

Registered on February 25, 2011, 189 Posts, 1160 Comments