Dark-Eyed Junco

All critiques appreciated.

flash over exposed it

Actually, you couldn't be more wrong, Nathan. The exposure was more perfect than any other of my bird photos. Maybe I turned up the levels on the high side a little too much for your liking, but the flash did not overexpose it. I am flattered that this is the first comment you've made on an image in five months, though. Thanks.

Scott, the image is not over-exposed, and I chuckled at your response, above. Good for you for earning the visit from the lurker:)

 

Bird photography has many camps, and one or two may say that this shot has the flash as the key light, which makes the junco almost looked stuffed - but the catchlight defeats that, I feel. Maybe a smidge of Warming Filter in PS would tone down the white light of the flash a little, I dunno - struggling with this in my own bird photography.

Thanks for taking the time, Christopher. I know this isn't what it would look like in real life and I could probably quite easily make some adjustments to make it look more natural. That's probably what Nathan was trying to say, but I personally prefer this look. I just very recently wised up and started using a flash, so maybe that's why I like the look of it...something a little different. I never had any idea how hard it was to get a good picture of a bird. I always thought shooting insects was challenging, but it doesn't even compare to shooting birds.

Oh yeah, they're elusive little suckers - and backgrounds and angles and perches make all the difference. Then, just when you think you've got a focus lock, you open the file to see a sharp branch with a blurry bird...

 

The lighting thing is all your preference. I've held scores of field guides, and some will have mostly shots with flash as key, yet others without any flash at all throughout the entire book. I myself have a dozen or so shots with three flashes firing at once onto a bird on a perch (see the wren photo for an example), and I love the shots. Lately, I've been starting off with the flash at -2EV, and working up from there, just trying to fill the shadows, almost without viewer perception...but it's TOUGH. Check out Art Morris' site, birdsasart.com, and sign up for the free e-newsletter - lots of tips in there each week.

 

Long and sort of it is that if you're getting sharp, well-framed results like this right out of the gate, you're gonna not only be great at it, but you're gonna have a lot of fun.

Yes, getting a sharp face instead of a sharp branch is the hardest part. A dof of 1-2 inches at f8 when filling the frame with a cardinal makes for some tough shooting. Having enough light is the next hardest problem and you just talked me into getting some more flashes. I just placed an order to B&H for a 430ex and a 550ex to work as slaves to my 580ex. Thanks for the link and the encouragement.

Oh man - you ordered more flashes! Good for you - you'll have a great time.

 

There's a shot that was recently in the TRP of a nest of hummingbirds, did you see it? The guy used a frggin' HASSELBLAD to shoot it - said that they become used to such close presence quickly. He set up three flash units around the nest, and the shot came out beautifully. I knew he used three flashes though - because there were three catchlights in the momma hummingbird's eye. That'd be aother camp's nitpick - as there's only one sun, thre should really only be one catchlight...so, after you're all setup with the three flashes, consider cloning out the other catchlights in PS, see what you think looks best. Looking forward to your posts, and enjoy - it's a blast.

great shot