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House Finch

© Stephen Shoff

House Finch

Uploaded: June 04, 2010

Description

I'm not a birder, just an opportunistic photographer. These birds were nesting in my eaves and flittering about in the tree outside my kitchen window.

Exif: F Number: 5.6, Exposure Bias Value: -0.33, ExposureTime: 1/800 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 320, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 420.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 50D

Comments

Stephen Shoff June 04, 2010

Here is the original for cropping suggestions. #1275159

Jeff E Jensen June 04, 2010

This is captured well Stephen. I like that he is partially in the sun/shade. Your detail and DOF are both nice. You may want to open the shadows just a bit on his eye. Otherwise, I think this is good as presented.

Having said that, Mike is our resident bird expert, he may have additional suggestions. #8664876

Rita K. Connell level-classic June 04, 2010

stephen, what a lovely capture of this house finch. I also like the sun/shade on him and the detail is very nice. the only distraction is the unfocus leaf in front I don't know if you want to do a little cloning and lessen that some by making it smaller area. great shot #8665929

Ellen H. Robertson level-classic June 04, 2010

Great shot. Your detail is wonderful and I like your crop. The unfocused leaf does not bother me, just puts him in his natural surrounds. #8666021

Dale Hardin June 04, 2010

I like this snapshot Stephen. Our Finches here are drab. Love the color and the dappled light.

With your tight crop, I agree with Rita that the distracting blurred leaf could be cloned out. (also on the branch below him) Then duplicate the result and apply a 75% soft-light blend to bring out the shadows and the colors. A little high pass filtering wouldn't hurt.

On the original image it's a different story. If you crop with a 5x7 horizontal format crop starting in the lower right corner and have the left side of the image end just before the tail of the other bird, you create a different scenario. In that case more of the habitat is visible and the leaf no longer cause as much of a problem.

I would however, suggest duplicating the image and again apply a soft light blend. This time at about 60%. Also apply some sharpening. #8666076

Teresa H. Hunt June 04, 2010

Wonderful photo! He's a beautiful bird. Well Rita took my critique about the leaf. I think you've gotten some great suggestions . . . can't wait to see the edits. :) #8666086

Anthony L. Mancuso June 04, 2010

Great detail Stephen and I also like the dappled light. I agree with what has been said about the OOF leaf and would like to see Dales crop and other suggestions in action.. #8666239

Stephen Shoff June 04, 2010

Ellen's observation about natural surrounds reflects my intent in using this picture. I have others without an obscuring leaf and shadow. I wanted observations about the leaf. I did try, but couldn't clone out the leaf.

Dale's cropping suggestion explained the dilemma with this composition -- if I wanted natural surroundings to be an element, I needed to include enough to make it an element of the image. I've recropped, not quite to Dale's specification, but hopefully accomplishing his point. Thank you, Dale.

I've applied the soft-light, though only at about 45%, and high pass sharpening, and opening shadows suggestions.

I just finished working through Richard Lynch's CS4 lAYERS book. You guys are making me exercise what I read with all this soft-light blend/high pass filter jargon. Thank you. #8666562

Rita K. Connell level-classic June 05, 2010

wow stephen it looks really good. I like the new crop better and now the unfocus leaf doesn't seem like a such a distraction. this is truely a lovely picture, I love watching the birds and thier beauty. great fix Stephen #8666873

Dale Hardin June 05, 2010

The end result is excellent Stephen. I like your crop better than my suggestion and the degree of blend is perfect. My un-calibrated monitor causes me to suggest numbers that are sometimes questionable to say the least. Well done. #8667234

Peter W. Marks June 05, 2010

I liked the first close-cropped image, Stephen, but now I like your last version even more. As Rita said, the out of focus leaves seem far less of a distraction and you have made some really effective adjustments.
Very nicely done my friend. #8667446

Ellen H. Robertson level-classic June 05, 2010

Love it, perfect. #8667836

Jeff E Jensen June 05, 2010

Yup, looks great! #8668316

Christie R. Bielss June 06, 2010

Really like the last one Stephen. As the others have said, it really makes the OOF leaves part of the image. Very nice work. #8668853

Teresa H. Hunt June 07, 2010

I agree the last one looks great. #8671467

Michael Kelly level-classic June 07, 2010

Wonderful color and detail on this Stephen. I like the original close shot as it shows off those fine attributes better than the larger crop, but the front OOF leaf does detract and looks better in the larger view. I would say the new crop is the way to go with this.

I love these little orange and red finches and they are very hard to capture. Great job! #8671692

Jackie M. Sajewski June 10, 2010

I really like the beautiful light you took this in. It just makes his feathers glisten. I am not a birder either but have tried to get some decent shots and gosh they are to quick for me. I think you did a great job and appears tack sharp. I might have tried to move so that the leaf would not go across his chest but that's how I lose my opportunities to shoot birds. I just end up scaring them away. Very nice. #8686721

Stephen Shoff June 10, 2010

Thank you Mike and Jacqueline. The wider crop will be the way to go in contest postings. The original tight crop, however, definitely has its place in a portfolio.

Jacqueline -- I had the opportunity to shoot these birds over a several weeks. I took somewhere around 300 images and got about 10 usable. My advantage was shooting using my kitchen window as blind (screen removed and window open). Even when I wasn't shooting, I left the window and blinds open and the camera mounted on the tripod so the birds would get used to it. Repositioning was not an option. There was almost always a breeze so tree movement was a big problem. Most of the time light was from behind the birds. Michael -- that gave me the same over-saturation problems and resulting loss of sharpness that you wrestled with in your Paintbrush post.

Takeaways: I set the Picture Style to Standard on my 50D to reduce saturation. (I'm normally set to Landscape.) If I had used continuous shooting I might have gotten this picture with the leaf out of the way.

Again, thank you all for your constructive feedback on this first post. #8687071

Susan M. Reynolds level-addict June 11, 2010

I'm in agreement with those that like the last crop the best.
I too really liked the dappled light and surrounding leaves, even the blurred one that partially covers his chest. It looks so natural and un-touched in this last edit.
Nice capture :) #8687658

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