This took some effort! I spent most of two days around my back yard and two different zoos. I drove an hour and a half to the Bronx Zoo figuring their big, open aviary would be perfect for catching some exotic birds amid the foliage... and it was closed for renovations! :-(
I had to settle for small dimly lit areas like this one. Handholding a 400mm lens at 1/20 sec and 1600 ISO isn't exactly my idea of fun. These little birds were fast, too! The best I could do was focus on the perch, then wait for the birds to land there and fire off a burst to get a couple of reasonably sharp ones.
Processing: Convert from RAW, Levels, USM, Noise Ninja, Dodge & Burn, added slight vignette, clone out the little leg band, spot saturation and color adjustments.
Statistics
Place: 10 out of 251 Avg (all users): 6.9577 Avg (commenters): 8.2692 Avg (participants): 6.8077 Avg (non-participants): 7.1009 Views since voting: 3279 Views during voting: 442 Votes: 213 Comments: 38 Favorites: 1 (view)
Excellent shot Shannon! I hadn't gotten this far before end of voting. Reading the comments I see you really go all out for these pictures. It is much appreciated. Well deserved top 10 or better.
If this were advanced I would process those bright green weeds out, but since it's basic we're stuck with them. Nice comp. good colors, saturation and contrast. Pretty little bird.
As with many shots I'm seeing in this challenge, I love that the backgrounds are real and set off the subjects so well - this is no exception. A very nicely timed capture showing off not only the bird but it's song as well.
well how fabulous is this shot. crisp, clean, amazing colours not over processed. 10 straight across the board for this one. well done
this is my 4th or 5th time, re looking at this shot and have to comment again, I really like the background, it totally adds to the blueness of the bird. I like that it is blurry, if it was crisp I think this would have been a flat photo. Well done again
What an adorable little bird :-) Very nice detail and the pose mid-song adds a lot of interest to the scene. He also reminds me of one of those ornate stuffed birds women used to wear on hats for some reason.
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