A few for the birds

[Eclectix]

I have taken my photography in the direction of birds, since it correlates well with my love of nature and my need for exercise. Here are a few of my latest photos from this past week:


American robin; I had gotten back to my car and was putting away my camera when I saw this fellow with the red berry. I had to pull the camera out and take the shot.


Swainson's hawk; this was one of a pair that must be nesting near the marsh where I photograph water birds. They were very loud, screaming at me when I got too close to their power lines. I could not see their nest; I believe it is in a nearby neighborhood somewhere.


Yellow-headed blackbird. The first day at this location I could only get good shots of the females, which are still attractive but the bold colors of the males was very attractive. I got this one the next morning.


American avocet. Every time he would take to the air he would sing loudly, I would turn and take a few shots, and then get back to hunting for other birds.


Double crested cormorants. There are hundreds of these nesting in downtown Denver right now, a very unusual sight.


Some birds I photograph frequently because they're just so beautiful. The snowy egret is one of those; I always have a hard time narrowing down my photographs at the end of the day to just a few favorites.


That's probably enough for today; I don't want to flood the board. I'll post a few from the last couple of months later on in a new thread. Comments and critiques are always welcome!

 

[baturn]

Very nice! Especially the avocet.

 

[WesternGuy]

These are very nice. My only nit pick is the tight cropping. The robin is a nice one as there is some "space around" him/her to let the main subject "breathe" a bit, but for me, the others shots of single birds are a bit too tightly cropped although the placement of the subject in the frame is good. For example, a bit more space around the Swainson's would be good and for the egret, I would suggest a bit more space above the bird as the space below seems adequate for the image.

WesternGuy

 

[IzzieK]

I love the avocet too. How big is this specie? I have not seen one like this. I like the curvy bill. Yes, the egret is really beautiful but the cropping is too tight at the top...

 

[Radical]

I really like the black bird.

 

[Eclectix]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try a few different crops to see if I can't improve them.

The avocet is about the size of a chicken. I've only ever seen the one, but he tends to hang around the same place every day.

ETA: Improvement?

 

[JacaRanda]

Hello Eclectix. I think the 2nd crop of the Egret is better. You may want to play with the white balance as it seems a bit purple (not sure if that is coming from clouds).

There are some great markings on the underside of that hawk. See if you can bring up the shadows a bit to show them off. Maybe the overall exposure a couple of ticks.

 

[WesternGuy]

The second crop of the egret is much better, although I agree with JacaRanda, the image has a bit of a "purplish/pinkish" tinge to it. As he says, probably just a WB issue.

For the hawk, I would like to see even a bit more space top and bottom (I know picky, picky :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ). As for the markings on the hawk, you can probably bring those out in post-processing, but I would suggest that maybe the next time you shoot a dark bird against a lighter background, you open up by one stop if you are shooting manually, or set one stop of exposure compensation if you are shooting Aperture/Shutter priority. This should allow you to capture the details of its under sides. You might have to experiment a bit at first, but this is what I find works for me when I am shooting dark birds against a light background.

WesternGuy

 

[Eclectix]

Thanks, guys, I appreciate all the feedback!

Yes, the egret photo is a bit pink/purple, but I don't want to white balance it because that's how I remember it looking, and I think it is an important part of the narrative (early morning, pink clouds in a lavender sky). The hawk probably could be a few clicks lighter. I probably tend to err on the side of caution when processing because I hate overcooked images with bleached out shadows and such.