Blue Grosbeak + Repost

Gallery: AvianPosted October 30, 20163,739 views9 comments

Last April, after spending the afternoon at the Rookery on High Island, Texas observing and photographing a few of the many Great Egrets and Spoonbills that were nesting there, I packed up my gear and got ready to walk back to my car. As I turned to leave, I saw a flash of blue feathers fly past me as this male Blue Grosbeak landed in some tall grass directly behind the railing of the observation platform. Balancing my camera on the railing, I knelt down and captured several close-up shots before he flew off.

5 D Mark III
Canon 500 + 1.4 teleconverter
700 mm
f 5.6
1/1000 sec
- 1 1/3 EV
iso 800
slight crop

Comments and Criticisms always appreciated.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on October 30, 2016 at 9:07 AM

Paula:

Very nice frame. Lovely setting and nice details.

As presented it is a bit dark. I played with this and putting a Levels adjustment layer on the image, moving the white point in to 220 makes a significant positive change.

Take a look and see what you think.

Keith

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on October 30, 2016 at 11:35 AM

I agree with Keith, it is a bit dark, but I like the colors and the pose you caught the bird in. I assume this was hand held as it is a bit soft, but still a good image IMHO. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on October 30, 2016 at 1:07 PM

What a nice and colorful grosbeak ! Lucky you ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Paula LeVay on October 30, 2016 at 1:39 PM

Keith, thank you so much for your suggestion. Big difference!

Registered on July 29, 2016, 66 Posts, 270 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on October 30, 2016 at 2:35 PM

Exquisite detail, Paula, and I love the setting. The repost is spot on. Excellent work. By the way,it helps to edit the title of the post to reflect that you've added a repost.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 31, 2016 at 4:29 PM

Great capture. I agree Keith's tweaks improve the shot.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Pete Bengeyfield on November 3, 2016 at 10:38 AM

I have a bunch of spoonblll pictures from there I'd trade for this one.. I've never had the chance to photograph one of these. Nice shot. I like the detail in the bird and the grass stalk it's on.

Registered on December 2, 2003, 1247 Posts, 3439 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 5, 2016 at 7:12 AM

Love the setting and little lift of the head Paula

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 6, 2017 at 2:21 AM

EXCELLENT blue grosbeak - great pose, fine detail, a bit of seed in it's mouth, great head-turn and eye.
And the re-post is even better - just about perfect. The only suggestion I'd have is to clone out (if your ethics allow) that bit of grass just behind the head.
Fine work!
Sandy

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