Black Phoebe

Gallery: AvianPosted August 28, 201089 views10 comments

I made this image at a small cattle tank in the Arizona desert. The tank had tamarisk bushes surrounding it and some dead tamarisk branches in the water. A large dead tamarisk provided the bright background as the Phoebe itself was perched in full shade. The full shade helped me keep tones in the blacks and the whites. I used fill flash at -2 1/2 stops to add some contrast and "sparkle" to the bird.

The Phoebe was feeding on some small black flies that were hatching from the water. I spent about an hour cloning out all the flies that were showing up in the background.

Canon 500mm f4L IS lens, Canon 2x II teleconverter, Canon 1D MKII camera, ISO 400, 1/200 sec @ f 11, fill flash -2 1/2 stops, cropped 75% of full frame.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on August 28, 2010 at 5:03 PM

Tom: Nice work with the exposure and use of fill flash. Background is pleasing except for the lens flares? I guess that is what they are. Left edge, and just to the left of the birds right foot.

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on August 28, 2010 at 6:18 PM

Nice pose in this lovely little bird.
I'd prefer a little more room on the bottom and a more traditional crop.
You could smoothe out the BG if you wanted, with a little careful "healing."
Sandy r

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on August 28, 2010 at 6:59 PM

these B&W birds can be challenging to expose properly, but this looks pretty good. BG is fine IMO, as is the composition.

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

Comment posted by KC Choo on August 29, 2010 at 2:42 AM

Excellent job on the exposure. Just me, but I like more room all around for a bird this size.

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on August 29, 2010 at 2:56 AM

Hi there Tom. What a handsome species, a little more contrast than most of the Flycatcher type birds. Even with f11 the tail is just a little soft, minor issue at most. You could doctor the second catchlight, I think I would try and see how it looks. Top notch photo, worth an hour's cloning of black fly spots.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 29, 2010 at 8:13 AM

Tom, excellent exposure control on this very contrasty species. I think the BG works great for this species as it really sets off the dark head and chest areas. At f/11 and 1/200s I would not be suprised if the softer tail is due to tail movement and not DOF. Flares in the BG don't bother me. Impossible to control that kind of stuff most of the time. Well executed image.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on August 29, 2010 at 10:52 AM

Great image Tom. If you have more rcanvas it might be interesting to try it with a bit more room all around the bird.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on August 29, 2010 at 7:08 PM

Good to see you posting again Tom! Nice job with the fill flash and terrific detail here. The circle in the bg near the right foot catches my eye a bit.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on August 30, 2010 at 11:00 AM

Beautiful light, pose and comp Tom, love the contrast of the dark bird against the lighter tones in the background.

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

Comment posted by Satie Sharma on August 30, 2010 at 1:19 PM

Wonderful detail and pose, Tom. Very nice shot.

Registered on November 11, 2003, 189 Posts, 5335 Comments