Sayaca Tanager

Hi Jefferson: A little hard to answer exactly what the issue is. Did you use flash? If so, it had to have been High speed sync at that shutter speed and that would help answer the black background question. With the techs you listed at ISO 400, it was VERY bright. Then with EV at -1, you cut the exposure in half. What was the background? Something much darker than the light on the bird? Was this exposure brought up in post processing?

Hi Keith,
no, no flash was used. I've just updated this information on the post.

Hard to say exactly what the background is, but I can try to take a picture of the scene, it could help to answer.

Regarding the post processing, it was just some minor adjustments. Not that would change that much the image. The raw shows the image with the bg already pretty dark.

Thanks for your reply!

Hi Jefferson,
I think it's due mainly to 2 things, it looks to me like the bird was in the sun and the background in shadow. Combine that with the fact that you went -1 on the exposure caused the background to be very dark. If you added to the contrast at all in processing that would make it even darker. What I would say regarding the image is that it's striking with the dark background even if it's not all that natural looking. One thing I would change if this is a setup perch would be to use a more attractive perch than one that is cut off at the end.

I don't know, Jefferson. All I can think of is that there must have been pretty bright light on the bird and perch with the bg in shadows. The dynamic range of the camera is nowhere near that of the human eye and the pupil of the camera is fixed at the exposure you select, so it can't adjust to bg shadows when you look away from the main subject. Nice shot, and I don't mind the black background at all.

Regardless of how the image evolved, I like it.

I believe Nate nailed it I would say the bird was in the light and the background was already dark and at 300mm you didn't even notice until you took the picture

I think your question has been answered, so I'll just add that I do like the effect as well. It does look a bit unusual, as we know that we don't usually see birds in this light. Very nice tanager, subtle coloration.

Hi Jefferson,

If you were to use spot metering on the pale bird in the sun and the background was far enough and somewhat dark, you would get that result. The camera can't take more dynamic range and you lose the dark zones as Dennis pointed out. Still a nice image with subtle coloration of the plumage. I agree with Gary on the cut branch, IMO it is nice to set up a perch that gives a neutral background but the perch at least should look natural ( a bit of natural surroundings is not bad either).

Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate that!

Yes, the bird was on the sun, the background was in shadow. So thanks for the explanations!

Regarding the setup, that was a friend of mine task. He did that in his place, so it would be kind of hard to change.
It's basically a dead branch that he put down on the ground.

Remember, too, that the dynamic range of the human eye is much higher than the best camera sensor. So the eye sees more than the sensor, especially where the contrast is strong. Interesting bird; not a tanager I've seen.

Lovely image Jefferson.
May