Marie Costanza  


Pole Dancer by Marie Costanza

August 2020 - Pole Dancer

August 2020 - Marie Costanza

Original

About the Image(s)

I took this image from my kitchen door in mid May during a spring rain. I was intrigued with the way this male Baltimore Oriole was so excited about his meal that he continuously danced around on the pole.

I used a Nikon 5500 with a Tamron 150-600 mm lens with the following settings: ISO=250, 550 mm, F6.3, 1/200. Using Lightroom I cropped it, edited the white balance and edited the tone (brought up the exposure a bit, increased the contrast, decreased the highlights and increased the shadows). I also cloned out a few faint raindrops. I used Color Efex Pro to bring out the details and to brighten the center a bit.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
21 comments posted




Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Marie, indeed the Baltimore Oriole is having a feast. He is still drooling the fruit juices (bluberries ??). You used a crop sensor camera (1.5 x factor) and the lens at 550 mm which in fact represents 825 mm. Were you hand holding ?? or on a tripod. Your shutter speed was only 1/200 second. It is always recommended to set your shutter speed to the inverse of the length of the lens max (600 x 1.5= 900) so it should have been at 1/1000 sec. I am surprised that the details on the feathers are still present, however a little soft. The Oriol is the National Bird of Venezuela (where I am originally from) and it is called Turpial. I would reduce the saturation a little bit. The background is perfect.   Posted: 08/02/2020 08:21:25



Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
Thanks, Isaac. Yes, it was on a tripod. I did not know the Oriole is your native country's national bird; it is such a pretty bird! I will play around with it more to decrease the saturation. I appreciate your tips.   Posted: 08/02/2020 14:19:53



Mary Frost   Mary Frost
Marie, Is the bird feeder going through the fruit? Or is that an optical illusion? I haven't put my energy into bird photography so I am always amazed by the detail you have captured. Great shot!   Posted: 08/02/2020 17:02:36



Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
Mary, Thank you for your kind comments. Yes, the bird feeder is specifically for orioles. It has a pole that goes through the orange, little sections for the grape jelly (which they LOVE), and the bottom comes off so that you can fill it with nectar that they drink out of little holes. If you do end up deciding to photograph birds, you might get addicted! It's really interesting to watch their behavior.   Posted: 08/03/2020 10:36:35
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
"little sections for the grape jelly (which they LOVE)" that explains the redish/purplish drooling.....   Posted: 08/03/2020 11:25:57



 
Well, I've just moved to a new house and the first thing I assembled was 2 bird feeder stands. I used to have year round hummingbirds in California, but now in Central Texas, I'm looking to bring in more of the songbirds etc. Birds are not my primary attention but its nice to have subjects in your backyard. I love the oriole. The colors really work. The analogous colors of fruit, nectar, and feeder and feathers work well with the complementary background.   Posted: 08/03/2020 18:20:16
Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
Thank you, Randy. I look forward to seeing some of the bird images you capture in your yard.   Posted: 08/04/2020 17:42:14



 
Marie, I really like this shot. I have not had much luck shooting birds as I do not have a long telephoto lens. Your cropping brought out the detail and the back ground is perfect. I too am amazed you were able to get such a clear shot with those camera settings, but if it works, use it! Well done.   Posted: 08/05/2020 11:05:16



Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
Walt, Thank you. I have enjoyed the wide variety of backyard birds this year. The long lens has been quite fun to use for the birds.   Posted: 08/07/2020 15:01:25



Bruce Benson   Bruce Benson
Marie, I am always glad to see images of birds, they are a real treat. I have feeders in my yard and use perches for the birds to land on. I am not a big fan of images on feeders but this one is an exception. The grape on the beak is great and the pose of the bird adds a lot to the image. If you put some branches near the feeder many times the birds will land on them before continuing on to the feeder making for a more natural image. My kids make fun of my perches, but who cares. Bruce   Posted: 08/12/2020 12:38:43
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Bruce, could you share a photo of your perches   Posted: 08/12/2020 14:11:05
Bruce Benson   Bruce Benson
Sure, don't have any up at the moment but will put some up and post them in a while. I wanted to try some today anyway. Bruce   Posted: 08/12/2020 14:18:42



Bruce Benson   Bruce Benson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgOtL6p0TmQ . Marie, If you want to raise your bird photography to the highest level, check out Alan Murphy photography. He lives in Texas and is a master of setting up great perches. He is also a gentleman. He has several books and DVD's about perches and also does workshops on bird photography. There are several photography ranches in South Texas where you stay in a dugout hide with a pond just outside with birds coming in all day to drink and eat at the feeding stations. Here are a couple of my perches that I set up just to show what they are like. Where ever I travel I pick up a branch of perspective perch   Posted: 08/12/2020 15:05:47
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Bruce Benson   Bruce Benson
Another view of perches, I just put these up to show a few of my perches. I have many more and often enhance them with moss, leaves, flowers etc. Bruce   Posted: 08/12/2020 15:08:02
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Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
Bruce, Thank you for posting these. Your perches are so cool! I love the garbage can to collect the seed droppings. Also, thanks for the tip about Alan Murphy. All of this is very useful information.   Posted: 08/13/2020 09:47:46



 
The south texas bird ranches are not without controversy. Many people complain that they "bait" the birds, which they do, and would not meet the standards of the Nature division. The water holes (small concrete ponds, maybe 10-20 ft diameter) alone would attract the birds but they also use seeds, peanuts and mixture of yard, peanut butter and wild seeds, not to mention chicken thighs and legs for raptors. They are not cheap either with daily rates over $200. But if you are birder, the Texas gulf coast and Rio Grande valley have a wide variety of very colorful birds and the "ranches" give you a full day of shooting.   Posted: 08/20/2020 11:23:54
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Adrian Binney   Adrian Binney
Interesting debate about what's allowed for Nature images. Images from zoos etc are allowed with or without their tags. That's one reason for Wildlife sections which yes are truly wild! I suspect the people complaining about Texan ranches are purists who love to complain. But they must be wrong.   Posted: 08/24/2020 06:06:43



Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
It looks beautiful!   Posted: 08/20/2020 11:42:35



Adrian Binney   Adrian Binney
A lovely image Marie and you are so lucky to have such bird life to photograph at home!
I love your pp relative to your work on its head (which was so dark), but I also feel the saturation is a tad too much and doesn't pass a 'believable' test. I would also crop a fraction off the left, to give proportionally more to its right and helping to take it further away from the centre.   Posted: 08/24/2020 06:11:02
Marie Costanza   Marie Costanza
Adrian,
Thank you so much for your comments, which are very helpful.
Marie   Posted: 08/25/2020 09:39:20



Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
This what we have here is the essence of the digital dialogue discussion groups. We learn tips and tricks of the trade from each other. Thanks Bruce and Randy.   Posted: 08/24/2020 09:47:21