My little Chickadee

Gallery: AvianPosted March 22, 20141,612 views8 comments

I've been trying for quite a while to get a decent shot of these little guys. They never seem to stay still for very long, at least when you are holding a camera. I caught this Black-capped chickadee in my backyard a couple of days ago. I cloned out a few branches on the left side of the frame. Did some additional selective sharpening on the tail but afraid it might be as good as that gets. F/8 would have been a better choice but I'm always concerned about pushing my ISO up much since the D300s body is such a crappy low light camera. Light conditions were variable between sun and clouds and I always exclusively shoot in manual. Anyway there is a small fleck of debris under his beak, should I clone that out or leave it be?

D300s
Nikkor 300mm f4, 1.4 TC (420mm)
ISO 400
1/200 @ f/5.6
Tripod
PP with LR, NIK & PS CC

Comments appreciated.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on March 22, 2014 at 8:12 AM

Very nice image. I really like the background and the chickadee is sharp where it counts. The bird's left leg and tail might have been sharper if you had stopped down a bit. However, it looks like you were struggling to get a sufficiently fast shutter speed with the ISO at 400. It's always a tradeoff, as we have all experienced. Well done.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on March 22, 2014 at 8:59 AM

Good job getting a clear shot of this jumpy bird -- there is still a bit of a branch in lower left corner. My eye tends to go to the brightest spot in the picture and that is the bright orange half circle on the left -- since that brightest spot is not the bird -- to me it is a distraction

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on March 22, 2014 at 9:56 AM

Nice job on the exposure and detail John.. Exposing this species always gives me fits.
I like the POV & look back pose, great. I'd probably take out the white beak debris.
Or furnish em' with a bib anyway

Well done

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 22, 2014 at 10:18 AM

Pretty much good as is. I would tone down the orange OOF, but leave the beak detritus.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on March 22, 2014 at 10:34 AM

Nicely done considering the slow shutter speed and the fact that you were wide open with the TC. Since you did some cloning you might consider removing that OOF branch in the LLHC.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 22, 2014 at 11:36 AM

Looks to me like you did a very good job getting detail in both white and black feathers when the BG was more brightly lit than your subject. What needs to be sharp is. I wouldn't worry about the tail. I would also leave the little bit of food or other matter on the bill and in the whiskers. They don't detract from the image IMO. The others have mentioned the lower left and orange disc. I might even consider cropping them out. What was that BG to be that color? Good Job.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 22, 2014 at 3:01 PM

Nice! I have missed numerous attempts at these guys, so I'd be very happy with this!
Good detail, nice pose with the head-turn, and bright eye.
From here, there is an odd reddish area around the beak - likely from pushing the "red" saturation a bit too much. Or, isolate the bird and "inverse" before you increase the sat, and it won't affect the bird.

Sandy

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

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on March 24, 2014 at 2:29 AM

Nice pose and background.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments