Thoughts on this Western Bluebird please

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Wink Jones

Wink Jones

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I live in Boise, Idaho and have been told there were some Western Bluebirds on the ditchbank where I walk my faithful Labrador retriever, Joe. I was only seeing sparrows on my walks, and soon gave up carrying my Nikon Z9 with the 500 Pf lens and 1.4x teleconverter. It has been COLD and the camera is heavy to carry for the mile plus walk I take every day with Joe. One day I was walking and commented to one of the frequent birders that walk the ditchbank that I sure wished I could see one of the "rarely seen here" Western Bluebirds.

"There goes one now," she said and pointed to one of the sparrows I had been seeing all winter. Turns out these are not the big bluebirds I used to see in the forrest when bowhunting for elk. I brought my Z9 down the next day and this is my favorite of the images I captured. I share the backstory as I find it humorous and I hope you do also.



Westgern BlueBird-0887.jpg
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What I am looking for are your thoughts on whether to leave this as is, or to narrow this to perhaps a 9 x 16 ratio verticle crop and filling the picture with mostly bird. Like this.

Bluebird Tall-0887.jpg
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All suggestions welcome.
 
Funny story. That close in crop does not work for me. I would perhaps crop a bit off the left resulting either 1:1 or 5:4 ratio. If you lean that way I'd clone the twigs out and try for a little detail in the body shadows. Nice shot though!
 
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bleirer said:
Funny story. That close in crop does not work for me. I would perhaps crop a bit off the left resulting either 1:1 or 5:4 ratio. If you lean that way I'd clone the twigs out and try for a little detail in the body shadows. Nice shot though!
Click to expand...

Thank you. I am not as enamored of the narrow photo as I thought I would be. How would you go for the detaol in the body shadows? I attempted to use a brush to select the area and that looked horrible. This, I think, looks slightly better and was done with a radial gradient selection. Still I think it is not what you were suggesting, so I welcome some pointers. I only did it on the tall bird, as I think I will stay with the original 8 x 10 crop. I want to get the tall bird looking good, and then take that to the 8 x 10 crop. The original is on top and the edited one below. I cannot get them to print side by side...

Bluebird Tall-0887.jpg
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Bluebird Tall edited-0887.jpg
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I would take off about half of the depth of the blank space above the bird’s head and then proportionally whatever amout you need to off the left side. That way, the space below the bottom of the twig directly below the bird and the space above its head would be roughly equal. This still leaves a lot of area around the bird for that “environmental” feeling, which I prefer to the closely cropped vertical shot.
 
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Butlerkid said:
I prefer the first image. Nice one! Perhaps you were thinking of blue jays.......not blue birds?
Click to expand...
Of course, I went to walk Joe and the word JAYS lept into my mind once I was across the street. I agree with you about liking the original edit better, it sounded like such a good idea...
 
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KP Birder said:
I would take off about half of the depth of the blank space above the bird’s head and then proportionally whatever amout you need to off the left side. That way, the space below the bottom of the twig directly below the bird and the space above its head would be roughly equal. This still leaves a lot of area around the bird for that “environmental” feeling, which I prefer to the closely cropped vertical shot.
Click to expand...

I like your idea too, and if I was going to do the narrow crop I would do my best to incorporate it. Thank you
 
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Nice image!

Wink Jones said:
Turns out these are not the big bluebirds I used to see in the forrest when bowhunting for elk.
Click to expand...
Were you thinking of Steller's Jays? Those are the relatively large and noisy black crested, blue colored birds that we see up in the pine forests a lot.

www.allaboutbirds.org

Steller's Jay Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

A large, dark jay of evergreen forests in the mountainous West. Steller’s Jays are common in forest wildernesses but are also fixtures of campgrounds, parklands, and backyards, where they are quick to spy bird feeders as well as unattended picnic items. When patrolling the woods, Steller’s Jays...
www.allaboutbirds.org www.allaboutbirds.org
 
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DRwyoming said:
Nice image!


Were you thinking of Steller's Jays? Those are the relatively large and noisy black crested, blue colored birds that we see up in the pine forests a lot.

www.allaboutbirds.org

Steller's Jay Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

A large, dark jay of evergreen forests in the mountainous West. Steller’s Jays are common in forest wildernesses but are also fixtures of campgrounds, parklands, and backyards, where they are quick to spy bird feeders as well as unattended picnic items. When patrolling the woods, Steller’s Jays...
www.allaboutbirds.org www.allaboutbirds.org
Click to expand...

Yes. I kept wondering why I was seeing only small sparrows when my birder acquaintances were going on and on about the beautiful blue birds.

Now I understand why they were so excited. They are indeed beautiful. Apparently they left the area the day after I took my photos.
 
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KP Birder said:
Actually, I was talking about the horizontal shot! Sorry, I should have been more specific.
Click to expand...

Okay. I liked that suggestion and I have incorporated it with this edit, along with my attempt to bring detail into the shadowed feathers as recommended by @bleirer.

Bluebird Tall edited twice-20887.jpg
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I like the original. Look up any species on google and you will find literally billions of frame filling shots as that's what most people shoot. I think most emotive wildlife photographs have some other elements in them, like the use of negative space in the first image.
 
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Thank you all. My 10 x 8 print was supposed to be here on the 17th, but now I am advised it will be here on the 20th. Without all the great advice, this would NOT have earned a spot on my ever more crowded wall.
 
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