Saviour Bird...

[Arthur Morris]

I am still on Monhegan Island. We are getting some good stuff but it has not been great. This fall female Black-throated Green Warbler has been feeding every day in a flower garden in the middle of town and been our best subject by miles. Yesterday there were tons of birds but all were zooming... I should have mentioned that we have had some great sparrow photography in a yard with board feeders.

Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC, a 25mm extension tube, and the EOS-1D MII. ISO 400. Evaulative metering +1/3 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/8/ Used a manually selected upper right AF sensor.

This is a full frame VERT ORIG. I toned down some specular highlights on the sunflower and added a catchlight in the eye.

Don't be shy; all comment welcome.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Hi Artie,
What a beauty.......!
I Iike the light,eye contact,details and the fantastic/sweet bg`s color

[Daniel Cadieux]

I really like this species of warbler...one the common ones at the cottage during the summer. Love that BG, especially the lilac colouring near the head. Did you think about removing the shadow on the leaf?

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Daniel, Thanks. I thought about removing the shadow but decided that I like it.

[Fabs Forns]

Lovely bird and BG, love the DOF you used here, where the tail seems to disappear at the end.
Glad you are having a good time :)

[Gerald Kelberg]

Pardon the impertinence, guv'nor, but I'm afraid this one doesn't work for me.

There is something weird happening with the flower that it seems to go from sharp to soft to sharp again. And then the bird is very sharp, almost to the extent that it looks as though it has been superimposed on the scene. It seems to me that the two dominant features are fighting for attention in a very tight space and neither is winning.

Best wishes, Gerald

[joel quenneville]

Nice lighting, pose and head angle. This one is a little to tight for my taste. Shooting somewhat wider would give more head room and still give you the option of cropping tight in a way that emphasizes the bird.

[Neil Losin]

Love the perch and the purple in the BG. But based on the shadows on the bird's body, I think the catchlight should be in the upper left of the eye. It doesn't quite look right as is...

[Arthur Morris]

Pardon the impertinence, guv'nor, but I'm afraid this one doesn't work for me.
There is something weird happening with the flower that it seems to go from sharp to soft to sharp again. And then the bird is very sharp, almost to the extent that it looks as though it has been superimposed on the scene. It seems to me that the two dominant features are fighting for attention in a very tight space and neither is winning. Best wishes, Gerald

Hey Gerald, First off, you were not being impertinent, you were not "exceeding the bounds of propriety in offering advice." (Quoting Merriam-Webster On-Line.) BPN is all about learning and your advice is greatly appreciated. I took everyone's advice, especially yours and took about an hour in Photoshop to create the re-post which I believe is a huge improvement over the original (that I loved to begin with)..

So thanks!

[Arthur Morris]

Nice lighting, pose and head angle. This one is a little to tight for my taste. Shooting somewhat wider would give more head room and still give you the option of cropping tight in a way that emphasizes the bird.

Thanks Joel. As above, it was a bit too tight for my taste also. It is, however, time for a reality check. I am attempting to photograph warblers as they flit about a flower garden. They rarely hold the same pose for more than an instant. A second or two is an eternity in warbler photography. Now, this bird lands while I am in HORZ format. I see the VERT in my mind and as I rotate the lens in the tripod collar I switch to what I hope is the correct sensor, the one 45 degrees above and to the right of the central sensor. Miraculously, I hit the right sensor, acquire focus, and create two images before the bird chnages its position... If Canon made a big zoom lens, perhaps I might have been able to zoom a bit wider, but with a fixed focal length I was thrilled to be able to fit everything in the frame and create a sharp image. The re-worked (wider) image would certainly make a nice magazine cover.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and for your suggestions. See you on Saturday.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like the repost better too. But reading how you acquired the shot in the first place is somewhat miraculous that you were even able to do it. Full frame vertical in a split second. Also love the lavender colour that you have extending with cloning. (?) Sometimes I find it easier to use the brush tool and airbrush at lower opacities selecting colours in the BG that are already there and adjusting the shades til it looks pleasing.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Artie,
It's great to see how the quite subtle changes to the brightness of the bird and the flower plus the additional space have really made such a tremendous difference. Mastering those subtleties is the big challenge.

Thanks for showing the way!

Gerald

[Fernando Cerra]

The second post is even better, good comment about the catchlight, looks better on the new positon, how you add a catchlight ? This image will certainly make a great magazine cover !

[Ramon M. Casares]

The repsot work much better as it has more room wich was the only nit for me as I really like this shot, Bg, light and pose are very nice! Comgratulaitons!

[Arthur Morris]

The second post is even better, good comment about the catchlight, looks better on the new positon, how you add a catchlight ? This image will certainly make a great magazine cover !

Creating a catchlight in an otherwise dead eye can be tricky. You can always grab one from another image with a Quick Mask but in this case I created it from scratch. I use a tiny, tiny clone stamp at 100% opacity and a hardness of about 30. Most important is that you create an irregular shape... Experiment a bit and be sure not to make the highlight too large....