Dark-eyed Junco

Gallery: AvianPosted November 2, 2016180 views6 comments

I've been back out to my backyard blind a few times since the last Junco I posted and have been using fill flash. I thought I'd post another for comparison and just because I love to photograph these birds. I really liked the shadow pattern from the fir needles on the Junco's face and chest

7DII, 430EX flash, Sigma 150-600 C @ 562 mm, hand held, f/9, 1/320, iso 1250, aperture priority, pattern metering, fill flash at -1 2/3, exposure compensation at -2/3. Processed in LR5 & CS6. Cropped to a 13.5 MP 4x5 before resizing. I cloned out an additional flash induced catchlight. Taken at 11:10 AM on October 31st between rain showers.

Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Thanks,

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on November 3, 2016 at 12:09 AM

I think you need to look at the larger image to get the best look at this photo. Nice color and details. I do like the light shadows on the junco. Thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on November 3, 2016 at 1:05 AM

Good pose and detail. Pleasantly blurred background. At least to me, it looks like excellent use of the flash; it would interesting and educational to see the same shot without the flash used. It is something I've played with, but without great success. For instance, how do you decide on the flash compensation? And it looks as if you are setting the camera and flash to high speed sync.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on November 3, 2016 at 9:49 AM

Allen. I don't use it that often myself, but I have read about it several times. Glenn Bartley, an ex-NPNer, has an ebook called "Flash Simplified" that I found useful. For fill flash, high speed synch seems to be pretty much a given. When I use it, I start at -2 compensation and adjust from there. In this case the brighter (more sky) backgrounds still seemed to dominate a bit at that setting, so I opted for a bit more flash. With a little practice, the adjustments get fairly easy, though I recommend practicing where you can see the buttons. I was trying to remember how to adjust it in a dark blind a few days ago and it took awhile.

crying

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

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on November 3, 2016 at 10:35 AM

Very nice image. Lovely light and nice flash use. As you know, I've advocated many, many times here for fill flash. Glad to see this image.

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

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on November 3, 2016 at 12:53 PM

The large image really tells the news! Great detail on the subject, with a busy but pleasing background.

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

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on November 3, 2016 at 4:57 PM

I agree that it would be interesting to see this without the flash for comparison purposes. It looks great to me, I'm curious on how darkly shaded this area was. Great pose and eye contact and I like the mostly pine bg. Well done Dennis!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments