A nice image of this young female... if they are visiting on a regular basis I think I would try and introduce soem photogenic perches, I do find this one not very 'complimentary', also by doing that you may be able to get a bit better control of your background (has there been some cloning top left?)
Did you use any NR here? Just that the orange plumage just below the wing looks a little 'smudged'
Looking forward to more of what has to be one of the most popular birds and one that I never tire of seeing.
Posted by Mark Sisson on March 27, 2009 at 4:52 AM
Agree with Phil on the perch Graham - but she's certainly a pretty specimen and if she was around for that amount of time, relaxed and comfortable too.
They are not using any of the perches I have installed - yet. Unfortunately, being a stream, we do get the odd 'flash flood', and they can and do destroy anything that can be put into the stream or the bank for them the perch on. I obviously am not going to spend too much time creating a disturbance either just to suit my photographic requirements so basically, this is where they live, and what they fish from.
I didn't use any NR, just colour correction, curves, shadows and highlights and once through USM (at 125/.3/0)
The light for this shot was flat (it did look a bit brighter in CS3 though), but I took 500+ images, and this was one of the first to be processed. I've still to get to the shots I took in the sunnier moments, but will post one when processed.
...........and yes, a very small amount of cloning, but the BG really does look like this. I think it is a huge clump of Japanese Knot Weed.........the bird is sitting on a collapsed stalk.
Fully understand .... re the image looking brighter in CS3, have just checked and you have posted in aRGB... convert it to sRGB and you should see an marked improvement when posting to the web, this is because most browsers are not colour profile aware (Firefox is but it has to be enabled) and sRGB is the closest colour space to what browsers expect. Adobe RGB will always appear duller....
HTH
Phil
Posted by Mark sellings on March 27, 2009 at 5:51 AM
Lovely portrait shot - very natural and nice suffused light - maybe comp could be slightly altered - less top/bottom? just an idea...
Mark
Posted by Brett Lewis on March 27, 2009 at 6:06 AM
Nice encounter with a beautiful little bird. Thanks for sharing.
Strange how tastes differ - I like the perch! But then I've only ever seen one, so I'm not familiar with the usual habitat. I also thought the colours were a bit flat and I've often been caught out in the same way regarding sRGB - it makes a huge difference.
Discussion
10 repliesI spent a couple of hours with this one, the female, this afternoon.
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 700 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Did you use any NR here? Just that the orange plumage just below the wing looks a little 'smudged'
Looking forward to more of what has to be one of the most popular birds and one that I never tire of seeing.
Mark
They are not using any of the perches I have installed - yet. Unfortunately, being a stream, we do get the odd 'flash flood', and they can and do destroy anything that can be put into the stream or the bank for them the perch on. I obviously am not going to spend too much time creating a disturbance either just to suit my photographic requirements so basically, this is where they live, and what they fish from.
I didn't use any NR, just colour correction, curves, shadows and highlights and once through USM (at 125/.3/0)
The light for this shot was flat (it did look a bit brighter in CS3 though), but I took 500+ images, and this was one of the first to be processed. I've still to get to the shots I took in the sunnier moments, but will post one when processed.
...........and yes, a very small amount of cloning, but the BG really does look like this. I think it is a huge clump of Japanese Knot Weed.........the bird is sitting on a collapsed stalk.
Fully understand .... re the image looking brighter in CS3, have just checked and you have posted in aRGB... convert it to sRGB and you should see an marked improvement when posting to the web, this is because most browsers are not colour profile aware (Firefox is but it has to be enabled) and sRGB is the closest colour space to what browsers expect. Adobe RGB will always appear duller....
HTH
Phil
Mark
Brett.
Thanks Phil - I'm trying to put together a new process for my images, and realised that I have missed this step - thanks for pointing out
Major.
What a great capture and as is, perch is fine its the way it is.
Barry
Kansas