Spruce Grouse

Hi Jim, I think the shadows have helped, as exposing the whites of the plumage in that harsh light would have been very tricky. Great looking bird too.

Andy...

Hi Jim:

Yes, looks like you had some tough light to deal with. This is a perfect scenario for the use of fill flash. I never leave home without it! You could have underexposed the ambient light and still had a good exposure, even better exposure, on the Grouse to fill in those shadows. Flash at about -1 2/3 to -2 would have probably done the trick. I would have gone to about -1 on Exposure comp to deal with the bright background.

That was some tough lighting. The detail looks good albeit dark. The upraised rear foot is also nice. All in all a good shot for a handheld 500 with 2x.

Keith's right that it would be cleaner if you had a flash to fill with at the time. If you have Viveza You might be able to rebalance the lighting ratio a bit, but my guess is that any move large enough to make a difference will end up looking artificial.

Beautiful bird with nice details Jim.
I think Keith might be onto something there
Great HH shooting

Good look at this Grouse -- looks to me like its needs some straightening - -just not sure what line(s) to straighten on

Nice pose, Jim. Looks like you were pretty low already, so I don't think you could have changed the bg significantly by getting lower. About the only thing you could do is try to wait till it crossed a shady bg. That said, I certainly wouldn't keep my finger off the trigger while waiting.

Keith hit it right on the head...I would also say fill flash. I think without it, not much else you could have done with this type of lighting. I like the leg lift and looks like it need a tiny bit of a CCW rotation.

Great job Jim, nice detail and a good job with the light