Piers Blackett
October 2019 - African Mousebird
Original
About the Image(s)
I was hiking in a South African park with habitat called Fynbos known for indigenous flowers and plants. The bird, a White-backed Mousebird, was shot at 1/500, f 8.0, ISO 800 at 250mm. It was edited in Lightroom to add contrast etc and denoised. Cropping presented a problem because of the long tail and distracting branches, so I elected to opt out of the Nature section rules and go for pictorial by cloning out the branches in Photoshop and placing the body in a central position.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
5 comments posted
Piers, the cropping certainly was a challenge, and I believe you did well on trimming the tree. I like how its straddled between two branches, and he's lucky you did not decide to trim one of those--or his tail! Your bokeh, I feel, is beautiful, soft colors that blend well with the bird with just enough contrast. Amazing that you could get the catch light at the distance. Nice! Posted: 10/06/2019 17:24:53
Piers: given the choice of branches the bird could have settled on, it probably made the right choice for the shot. Nicely cropped, great bokeh. I might just frame the image with a thin border of a complementary color. Posted: 10/07/2019 18:16:42
Piers, This is a beautiful bird that struck a nice pose for you. It's crest and tail are very interesting. There must be some advantage for those extra long tail feathers.
Bird photography is my main emphasis too. I also struggle with branches that get in the way, and it's always great to eliminate them if possible. The 2 branches that the bird is standing on look a bit soft on the ends so that's one thing I would change. But this bird was quite a catch! Posted: 10/07/2019 22:57:08
Bird photography is my main emphasis too. I also struggle with branches that get in the way, and it's always great to eliminate them if possible. The 2 branches that the bird is standing on look a bit soft on the ends so that's one thing I would change. But this bird was quite a catch! Posted: 10/07/2019 22:57:08
As for me I think the branches distract the subject.May I suggest to crop ...I fix like this.Thanks. Posted: 10/16/2019 22:37:12
I would love to get into bird photography. I don't see many around my house, so I don't get much practice. This is a great shot & I really like the edit that you did and the branches that you were able to remove. I would not crop any tighter on the bottom - I like the crop as is. Posted: 10/17/2019 12:59:57