Bird on _2_ sticks

[dupcak]

What's better than a bird-on-a-stick? A bird on TWO sticks OK a stick and a vine. This was actually my first time photographing an Eastern Bluebird and I have to say they aren't the smartest birds in the flock, but it was a fun experience for this non-birder. Taken at Great Meadows NWR in Concord, Massachusetts. Any and all feedback would be very much appreciated. It's a simple bird ID shot, but not sure what else I could do.

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[NorthernFocus]

They are pretty little things. Field work looks good. Nice clean shot, good angle on the bird, etc. Could use some post processing. Looks a bit high on exposure and low on contrast/detail. Looks like the detail is there just needs to be brought out.

 

[dupcak]

They are pretty little things. Field work looks good. Nice clean shot, good angle on the bird, etc. Could use some post processing. Looks a bit high on exposure and low on contrast/detail. Looks like the detail is there just needs to be brought out.

Thamks - I'll give that a try. I had brought down exposure a bit and bumped up contrast but was afraid to over do it. Guess I haven't hit the limit yet.

 

[bleirer]

I like it. Clean, sharp, in focus. Is that coloring realistic compared to how your eyes saw the bird? It has a pleasant almost pastel vibe to it, but you might have some room to interpret the colors if it doesnt match your experience. Maybe use the eyedropper in the color panel to click on the orange, maybe lower the L and raise the S just a little, and maybe raise saturation in the blue without overdoing it.

 

[BAL Land]

I agree with everything that has been said-those blues look way off to my eye.

 

[DRwyoming]

Nice image, love the pose.

I agree, backing off the exposure and perhaps a bit of highlight recovery would help as it has a somewhat washed out look. The plus one stop of exposure comp didn't help but if you shot this as a raw file you should be able to correct that in post.

 

[dupcak]

I like it. Clean, sharp, in focus. Is that coloring realistic compared to how your eyes saw the bird? It has a pleasant almost pastel vibe to it, but you might have some room to interpret the colors if it doesnt match your experience. Maybe use the eyedropper in the color panel to click on the orange, maybe lower the L and raise the S just a little, and maybe raise saturation in the blue without overdoing it.

The blues are accurate from what I remember and other shots I've seen online - apparently Eastern Bluebirds have dull feathers right after their molt and get brighter towards the late summer/fall. I have already bumped up saturation on the bird to "25" which is MUCH higher than I usually go (I hate the overly saturated Instagram look). This is why I was jealous when @BAL Land posted their recent Western Bluebird shot - so much more vibrant than the few Eastern Bluebirds that I've seen.

Possibly pulling down the overall exposure will help a bit. Back to the drawing board.

 

[dupcak]

I agree with everything that has been said-those blues look way off to my eye.

The blues are relatively accurate - no where near as vibrant and colorful as your recent shot of the Western Bluebird.

 

[dupcak]

Nice image, love the pose.

I agree, backing off the exposure and perhaps a bit of highlight recovery would help as it has a somewhat washed out look. The plus one stop of exposure comp didn't help but if you shot this as a raw file you should be able to correct that in post.

Agreed - I'll bring things down a bit. This was in raw so I have the latitude to play with it. I've already brought the background down a lot since it was very bright but now need to adjust the bird separately.

 

[bleirer]

The blues are accurate from what I remember and other shots I've seen online - apparently Eastern Bluebirds have dull feathers right after their molt and get brighter towards the late summer/fall. I have already bumped up saturation on the bird to "25" which is MUCH higher than I usually go (I hate the overly saturated Instagram look). This is why I was jealous when @BAL Land posted their recent Western Bluebird shot - so much more vibrant than the few Eastern Bluebirds that I've seen.

Possibly pulling down the overall exposure will help a bit. Back to the drawing board.

I agree oversaturated is not a good look. Saturation at -1 but vibrance cranked a bit can look good, especially if done in a mask. But finer control comes with the color panel.

 

[dupcak]

OK - I played around with it for a bit trying to incorporate some of the feedback. In the end I got too frustrated with trying to tame the highlights on the back/tail feathers so this is what I ended up with. It was never going to be a wall-hanger, but I think I learned something along the way. Second version is SOOC - clearly way overexposed - so it's come a long way, but this experiment has run its course. I'll turn my efforts to something else for now.

1) Final attempt

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2) SOOC - warts and all

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[bleirer]

I think that is quite good.

 

[DripDryMcFleye]

Based on the bluebirds I see here in Michigan, your first edited image shows colors that are reasonably accurate. I have always had the thought that most bluebird shots seen on forums are somewhat over saturated.