by Dennis Plank
This is the male of the pair I posted a n image of a week or so ago. They now have babies to feed and I spend a bit of time photographing him yesterday evening (I'm going out when I finish this and add a more decorative finial to their post). The post was rather bright and I burned it in the main post. I really didn't like the results, so I experimented with another approach. In the repost, I selected just the perch, duplicated it as a separate layer, and painted over it with the darkest brown I could find in it at reduced opacity. Then I adjusted the white and black points, the mid tones and played with saturation and contrast all just on the perch until I had something I though was semi-realistic, but not glaring. I'd be interested in which you prefer.
7Dii, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, Jobu Gimbal on RRS legs, f/10, 1/500, iso1000, aperture priority, pattern metering, no compensation. Processed in LR5 and CS6 (see above) and cropped to 9.5MP. Taken at 8:10 pm yesterday in our back yard.
Your comments are very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Comments
8 commentsHere's the other version.
I think you are on the right track here, Dennis.
weathered post should have some greying in the wood, so I would think somewhere in between your two images might be what you are looking for. Great fun to have subjects that you can keep working on.
Nice Bluebird image. The insect in his mouth adds interest. I wasn't paying any attention to the perch but I do think the bird looks better in the second image.
Really like the meal, detail and color in this one Dennis. I also thought the perch was a bit bright in the original. I do however agree with Neil about the repost and think it should be something a bit more weathered like the original.
Very nice bird. The bug really adds interest. The perch is both versions feels odd to me. Neither looks natural. I'd have to see the original to make any meaningful suggestions.
Haven't seen many of these this year here..
Excellent shot with prey, sharp detail and I like this late light a lot.
Great job on the repost, I'd go with it
Dennis, I can relate to your ideas about the post, however it looks a little unnatural to me in the re-post. That issue aside, the bird and prey are awesome, and I already look forward seeing the results from your 'pimped' fencepost. Great image nevertheless! Cheers, Hans
Dennis, this is a real sweet shot of the Bluebird with a snack in it's bill. The bird is very sharp and the background is perfect. This image is certainly worth working out the perch issue. Well done!