White-breasted Nuthatch

Posted by Michael Dossett on Thu Jan 22, 2004 2:06 am

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Its a little contrasty. Unfortunately this is one of those shots before my fill flash days. The other problem here was that somehow a setting on my camera got flipped from matrix metering to spot metering. Since it was then spot metered off the face the slide is a little dark and most of the pics in the sequence are totally worthless. Salvaged (more or less) with some curves adjustments and tinkering. The shot I took before this one was better exposed and less contrasty but he was looking down instead of out.

As always, comments and suggestions welcome

Minolta Maxxum 7
600mm f4 + 1.4x II
Provia 100F

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by Peterh on Thu Jan 22, 2004 2:24 am

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Lovely shot and pose.

I like the overall shot, but in my view it's got a bit too dark atmosphere. I think the dark limb of the tree is to blame. Perhaps it could have a 3rd extra. ?

Cheers

Peter

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by Bill Whala on Thu Jan 22, 2004 8:58 am

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I like the classic nuthatch pose. I also like how the blue in the bird repeats the blue in the bg. I agree with you that fill would have helped but still nice as is.

Bill Whala

"Aves of similar plumage tend to converge with one another"

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by Alan Murphy on Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:17 am

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Michael, With the strong side lighting, it helped that he turned his head into the light. Nice shot.

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by AlexC on Thu Jan 22, 2004 2:51 pm

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Very nice indeed, Congrats!!

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by E.J. Peiker on Thu Jan 22, 2004 3:28 pm

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I think your self critique is right on. Some curves work in PS could improve this further.

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by Michael Dossett on Thu Jan 22, 2004 3:40 pm

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E.J. Peiker wrote:I think your self critique is right on. Some curves work in PS could improve this further.

E.J. (or someone else for that matter) since I'm still quite a neophyte when it comes to photoshop work I would appreciate any tips on what exactly I can do with the curves to help this. I was trying to lighten other things up without blowing out the highlights on the face.

Thanks,

Michael

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by BrianS on Thu Jan 22, 2004 8:35 pm

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A classic Nuthatch pose -- your own critique pretty much says it all. From PS I would give curves a go and also apply a contrast mask. The latest version of PS also has a shadow/highlight tool that can help even out the light.

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