Male Cardinal

Gallery: AvianPosted February 9, 2011169 views12 comments

The winter has been so uncharacteristically harsh around Kansas City this year that I've seen as many as 10 pairs of cardinals at one time waiting their turn at my feeding station. Last Sunday morning the crowd was quite a bit smaller when I had the opportunity to photograph this male in one of my prairie fire crabapple trees.

50D, 100-400L @ 400, 1/500 @ f/5.6, ISO 500, 70% FF

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Marc Dubuc on February 10, 2011 at 12:00 AM

Wonderful shot of this spectacular bird. Nice composition and I like position of the bird on this branch. Nice details!

Registered on January 4, 2011, 59 Posts, 229 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on February 10, 2011 at 1:35 AM

One of the best cardinals I've seen! I grew up in Ohio, and really miss cardinals..wish they'd make their way further west to CA.
Excellent image!
Beautiful detail, spot-on colours, great pose, bright eye, and interesting perch and BG. The BG could probably use a bit of NR..

Sandy

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

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on February 10, 2011 at 3:47 AM

Beautiful detail and even light Wayne. I see it's full frame - I'd possibly like a little more room.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Summers on February 10, 2011 at 5:40 AM

Would have preferred more room but its FF so not a lot you can do but nevertheless a lovely shot of a stunning bird love the tones

Registered on December 3, 2009, 83 Posts, 818 Comments

Comment posted by Randy Bacon on February 10, 2011 at 8:07 AM

Nice shot Wayne, I like the pose and strong eye contact. Detail and colors are excellent. I too would like a little more room.

Registered on November 24, 2008, 56 Posts, 492 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Marquart on February 10, 2011 at 8:30 AM

Nice pose and detail Wayne, at 70% FF you have a little room to spare and I could go along with not as tight a crop but this is still a nice closeup.

Registered on October 24, 2009, 126 Posts, 799 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on February 10, 2011 at 11:02 AM

Very nice light and detail. I too would add back a little more space.

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

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on February 10, 2011 at 11:37 AM

Superb colours and details with this marvelous bird- agree about the framing (a bit tight)- well done, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on February 10, 2011 at 4:57 PM

That is a really sweet shot! Beautiful bird with nice BG, pose, perch and it's tack sharp. I love the light, especially the way it is lighting up the lower part of the breast, the beak and the head. The beak almost looks translucent. The raised crest really puts it over the top. I can see from the larger version that there is a faint catchlight in the eye so the only improvement I might suggest is possibly a slight selective lightening of the highlights in the eye to make the catchlight just a bit more noticable. But even if you decide not to work on the catchlights this is super!! Definitely one of the best pictures I have seen of this beautiful bird.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on February 10, 2011 at 5:29 PM

You've done a fine job on this cardinal Wayne. To my eye the colors look natural, sharpness looks good, I like the varying light and you have nice detail. Yes, perhaps a little tight but not by a lot. Excellent.

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

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on February 10, 2011 at 8:13 PM

Everything about this image is fantastic Wayne

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 11, 2011 at 3:14 PM

Excellent cardinal image with wonderful detail on the larger version, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments