Red Wing

Gallery: AvianPosted January 9, 2010103 views8 comments

Female red winged blackbird. Spent a great deal of time following a pair around a small pond. Not exactly an exciting bird of choice to shoot but there was apparently a nest in the area and that's what I was really looking for. Her mate kept buzzing my head making it a tad difficult to shoot.

Olympus E-510, 500mm sigma lens, f/6.3 @ 1/100 sec, ISO 800.

Would have loved to have gotten the shutter speed up more, but it was a cloudy day and I had already pushed the ISO well beyond what an Olympus camera is capable of, at least when it comes to noise reduction.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Sam Rua on January 9, 2010 at 2:37 PM

Nice comp and detail, Michele. I like the bokeh. I want to suggest cloning out the branches on the left but I don't know if that will mess with the balance in this comp.

Registered on September 9, 2006, 130 Posts, 2281 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Spiecker on January 9, 2010 at 7:14 PM

Rather than cloning the left side, you might crop a little off there and have your bird a bit less centered. Good exposure and a nice, complimentary BG.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 366 Posts, 4649 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 9, 2010 at 7:42 PM

Michele, I like the pose with the good eye contact and the split tail. None of the elements in the setting particularly bother me, including the twigs at lower left and I like the background. A good shot (like this) of a RWBB or most any other bird can be just as "exciting" as one of a less common species, IMO. I might suggest that if the male was "buzzing you" and you were likely close to a nest that the best thing for the birds would be for you to beat a hasty retreat. Just my opinion...

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on January 9, 2010 at 7:50 PM

Michele,

I like the setting, the subtle background colors and how well the blackbird stands out from it. You have nice eye contact, head turn and pose. I also like the split tail. I find the female of this species to be as interesting to watch and photograph as the showier male.

I agree with Ron about the hasty retreat from nesting birds being best for them.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Dubois on January 9, 2010 at 8:03 PM

Good detail in this shot Michele. +1 on the suggestion to clone the OOF branches behind the tail.

This female looks pretty dark to me. I've observed a lot of them but always on the western part of the continent so it could be a local variation.

Registered on February 22, 2005, 129 Posts, 4739 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Jenkins on January 10, 2010 at 8:40 AM

Like the BG and perch. Nice job.

Registered on April 20, 2008, 307 Posts, 604 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 10, 2010 at 12:47 PM

I like the composition here, including the twigs on both left and right sides. I see no compelling reason to edit out part of this natural setting. I agree with the comments that this species is worthy of our attention and a suitable subject for any avian photographer - being "common" only means that the photographer might need to work a little harder to get an uncommon image. I also agree that it seem a little on the dark side. I like the understated colors in this image.

FYI: "Redwing" is the common name of Turdus iliacus, a European relative of the American Robin (Turdus migratorius). To avoid confusion for all viewers it would be better IMO to use "Red-winged Blackbird" for this American species (Agelaius phoenicaus).

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

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on January 10, 2010 at 9:36 PM

I like the pose and eye contact as well as the dof. A little noisy but pretty good for 800 ISO

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments