Junco+Repost

Gallery: AvianPosted April 14, 2011126 views9 comments

This Dark-eyed Junco was one of a group whose breakfast I interrupted while tramping along the Credit River near Toronto a couple of weeks ago.

This one stayed around to have a good look at me.

Lately, several of you have mentioned that my postings have been dark. The brightest whites have RGB values of about 215 here. Please let me know if it still looks dark to you.

All comments very welcome.

1D Mark IV, 400 mm f/5.6, 1.4x TC, hand held: ISO 500, 1/1000 s, f/9.0, 0 EV, 9 MP MP after cropping (56% of the 16 MP of the 1D Mark IV), slight NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Keith A Anderson on April 14, 2011 at 9:28 PM

Exposure and detail look great as does the bird. The head angle and highlight are very nice. Some would consider the stuff on the beak a negative but it's ok by me. What I would nit is the cluttered bg, especially the branch going up behind the bird.

Registered on February 13, 2006, 166 Posts, 1818 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on April 15, 2011 at 12:06 AM

Color is natural; brightness looks fine to me. Detail looks good. Size and position of the junco in the frame works; background is a bit distracting.

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 15, 2011 at 3:14 AM

Very nice detail, bright eye and eye contact, and "food."
I'd also lose some of the cluttered BG, if you were willing to clone a bit - the 3 twigs on the lower left and the one OOF branch behind the bird.
Nice catch!
Sandy

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

Comment posted by Monica Siri on April 15, 2011 at 10:21 AM

Steve,
beautiful bird very well captured. I love the eye contact, the food in the beak and the detail. I like the background that is complementary to the bird's colors. Really nice.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on April 15, 2011 at 12:03 PM

Steve, nice detail and color. With that creamy bg it wouldn't be difficult to lose the twigs others have suggested. But the exposure is spot on.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 15, 2011 at 8:55 PM

I like the pose of the Junco Steve and how the bird has its head cocked. Lightness looks fine on my screen, the colors look natural too. I really like the little bit of leftovers on the bill too.

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

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on April 15, 2011 at 9:22 PM

I like this, Steve. The setting is not a problem for me, and I think your comp works well with it. The only part of the setting that is a little distracting for me is the pale oof strip at left--possibly healing/smoothing the right edge of this would help for me. colors look good, detail excellent, and brightness seems fine to me.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on April 16, 2011 at 7:56 AM

Thank you everyone. I'm glad about the exposure and I much appreciated your suggestions. There were two main suggestions: (a) clone out the branches and (b) smooth the pale strip (I think it's an OOF branch). I've done both (please see the image posted with this comment and with the next comment). In both cases the aesthetics of the image were definitely improved. However, I think for my own personal use, I'd avoid such extensive modifications.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on April 16, 2011 at 7:57 AM

And, here's Brian's suggestion re: smoothing the pale strip.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments