I like the position of the Nuthatch but I feel the image lacks sharpness, this may be due to a too slow shutter speed for the lens used or this is a quite heavy crop from the original image also the eye has been lost due to the back lighting which may have helped from a belt of on board flash just to create a highlight in the eye, this is just my opinion, I still like the shot.
> John
Yes, John, Heavy crop and from the original raw file I've pulled out as much detail from the shadows as was possible before it all started to look a bit HDR. Flash? I take your point but balancing the tiny amount required is tricky especially when the subject isn't really a good sitter... I'd rather see what I can pull out in post-processing.
I have enjoyed the exchange of ideas,on how put put some light on the bird,Alan you said its a raw file,couldnt you have used the fill light slider or if you use photoshop try highlights and shadows,twiddle the slider's to get desired results,just my opinion. Angela
love your self
really like this photo, and as others have said you can improve it by brushing in some light onto the bird. if you use fill light be careful, you can "wash out" your photoVisit my flickr photoblog
Thanks again folks, but I can see a little further explanation is required.
So I'm sitting in this stone-built rest (think "cave") and the birds are flitting around the entrance, strongly back-lit as you can see from the rim-lighting on its back. There's virtually no direct lighting on the front of the bird and the "undeveloped" raw file is little more than a silhouette.
First, there's John's suggestion of a flash to illuminate the darkness, but that's my choice - there are so many pictures around where the fill flash just overwhelms and you get the "rabbit in the headlights" look
I didn't add a fill light as per Angela's suggestion but the raw converter I used pulls out detail from shadows while leaving the rest of the photo virtually untouched and I didn't want to wash out the strong Autumnal colours.
After that, it's a balancing act. Your brain can see it's backlit and should be darker than the background but the "reality" version is far too dark for any detail to show on a photo. The balance I was after is an image which doesn't look manipulated (and given that several of you think it could stand a little adjustment, I think I just about achieved that much!)
The adjustment slider still had a long way to go - I was only half way up but that's where I decided to stop before it all came over a bit too HDR.
Maybe, the best solution would have been to get off my backside and shoot from a different angle. Too lazy.
Alan i understand better after the explaination,if the raw file was as dark as you say,you have done well to get it as light as you have,without any noise,its been interesting and i like the shot,thank you. Angela
love your self
I would just like to say that my suggestion was only to use the flash to put a highlight in the eye and not to illuminate the Nuthatch, the eye would have picked up the smallest amount of light from the flash and give life to the eye.
> John
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