The Artist Formerly Known As Cordi

Brian Sump · Sep 13, 2024

20240810-Cordilleran-Flycatcher-Brian-Sump-_SR63030-WEBSHARPEN-final-2-v7.jpg

Brian Sump Photography
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.5 (Macintosh)

Here is a Cordilleran Flycatcher (recently it was officially merged back into the original Western Flycatcher name) up around 8500 ft elevation in the Rocky Mountains.

R6
Handheld
840mm
ISO 5000
1/1000
f5.6

LR and PS. Evicted a couple stray branches (probably not the ones you would suspect).

Andreas Liedmann · Sep 14, 2024

Hi Amigo ...
the little renamed critter does almost jump right into my face :bg3: , love it !!!
Subject does look very good on all counts , nicely rendered color and tones . Gorgeous fine details ....and sharp as it can be .
The perch is great ... with the moss and the orange patches ...
I do like the BG as well with its color variations ... just a touch too deep in the very dark tones , not clipped or too blocked . But I reduced the density a touch and it does look better IMHO... I used the curve black point to lower the blacks a touch , with a mask to restrict it to the really darkest tones .

Overall a very fine shot , very well executed in the field and processing does look superb

TFS Andreas

Ian McLachlan · Sep 15, 2024

Yes it does jump right out of the frame.Just excellent in the separation of background and foreground. Just can't quite work out why the nearer branch seems to be less blurred than the greenery under the birds tail. And the shooting star left of near leg maybe could disappear but both minor stuff in this lovely work.

Jonathan Ashton · Sep 15, 2024

Beautifil image Brian, the bird is shown to excellent effect. The image is very clean ... super shot!! (I do not see any evidence of background clear up, maybe because I don't go looking for it!)
I would prefer the background to be a little less dark and full of contrast, I appreciate however that you prefer the subject to conrast more heavily with the background than my personal choice would be.

William Dickson · Sep 16, 2024

I really like dark BG's, and this one is no exception. Sometimes I under expose to achieve this. The bird really stands out perfectly. Lovely detail and colours on the bird. Perfect pose and HA. I like the perch, and would have liked more of it in focus, as you probably would have as well. The oof parts do give some depth to the image though.

Well done Brian.

Will