Here I am girls

Gallery: AvianPosted May 23, 2018127 views7 comments

Spring is in the air. I was out at Goose Lake Prairie about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. The Prairie Partners just had the prescribed burn done a few weeks prior to the photo. At first I was disappointed to see all the grassland burned away but prairie started to green up. The new lower grass did give me the opportunity to see birds and other things I have not seen before. While driving down the roadway I noticed this mail pheasant positioned on a large rock as if to be announcing his presence to all the females in the area.
I just like the pose and the colors in the bird.
Canon T5i
Sigma 150 to 600 C @ 484
Shutter 1/1000 F8 ISO 500.
How could I have made this better? Thank you for looking, I have a lot to learn.

Brian

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on May 23, 2018 at 9:36 PM

A beautiful pheasant, Brian. Plumage detail looks very good and I love the pose and the rock perch. It looks to me as if the brightness could come up a bit and you might try blurring the out of focus background a bit to smooth it out more. Nicely done.

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

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on May 24, 2018 at 12:02 PM

Brian: I like the place it is perched and the pose. Very nice. Things to improve. Bird is a bit dark, especially the head. The background Bokeh is pretty rough so as suggested, some additional blurring would help. I'm attaching a quick version I worked to address those couple of issues. Also added just a bit of detailed sharpening on the bird/rock. See what you think.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Murphy on May 24, 2018 at 12:34 PM

Dennis and Keith,
Thank you for the input. You are definitely correct with the suggestions. The reworked photo looks great.
I do have a lot to learn.
I appreciate your help.
Brian

Registered on November 15, 2015, 35 Posts, 50 Comments

Comment posted by David Bogener on May 24, 2018 at 2:18 PM

Killer over the shoulder pose with that great eye contact and up on a perch. Repost improves, especially the sharpening.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on May 24, 2018 at 3:33 PM

An excellent image with the rework by Keith showing how to squeeze the best out of an already good shot. I would say that you already know how to compose and take a photo. Study Photoshop/Lightroom/Camera Raw for the rest. It is amazing how a few modest corrections can change a good image for the better, as Keith's rework shows.

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

Comment posted by Brian Murphy on May 24, 2018 at 5:11 PM

You are right Phil.
I need to get much better at editing.
Thanks again to everyone for your comments.

Registered on November 15, 2015, 35 Posts, 50 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on May 25, 2018 at 10:57 PM

Can't add much to the criticism below, but I sure like the pose. It's unusual for a pheasant to take an interesting pose, but you sure found one.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments