Sherry Icardi
About the Image(s)
This was taken last week at one of the Wetlands near where I live. Ive been in this area 3 years and have only see a female redwing once before. They tend to be very reclusive and you will rarely see them up and singing like the males. The last time I saw one in 2018 I searched everywhere for what kind of bird it was and finally landed on the Redwing. I now have several apps that help with bird identification so I did a quick check to confirm my suspicions . I love the little leaf on her beak!
Taken with Sony 7rIV and 100-400 lens at full 400mm
1/160 sec
F/5.6
ISO 200
Post Processing was cropping and reducing the brightness of the green leaves in the near background.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
  Posted: 11/08/2020 16:33:04
I fussed with the green leaves a lot and when I tried the paintbrush to darken it, just looked awful. I even tried changing the actual green color with hue and saturation. but I could not get it to a place I really liked. I might try to get rid of the branch, I can do that in Photoshop with content aware. l'll post it afterwards.
  Posted: 11/12/2020 15:55:44
(Groups 36 & 67)
As has been mentioned, that brown weed should be removed as it is a great distraction. Simple and clean works best for backgrounds. That said many competitions will not allow this type of manipulation, however in our DD Groups it is permitted.
I am going to break with the opinion of the majority and suggest that the image is really not tack sharp. You state the use of a 100-400m lens at 400mm. I'll bet you a nickel (that's a big bet for me) that you did not use a tripod. Thus you hve a hosts of things working against you. First note several of the background leaves have double edges, so there was a slight breeze that introduced motion. You were hand holding your camera rig and that also introduces motion as you cannot stand perfectly still if for no other reason other than you were breathing. Your shutter speed is quite slow at 1/160. Small birds twitch constantly and because they are small you tend to be closer to them and this closeness magnifies the movement. Additionally at 400mm and f5.6 you have very shallow DOF. All of this contributes to a soft image. You have a fine camera and that model (I looked it up) can easily handle ISO levels of 800 if shot in good bright light and exposed properly. Raising the ISO to even 4-500 would allow for a faster shutter speed and thus solve all your problems. Shooting wildlife this small I would suggest a shutter of 1/800 or more if you can manage it. A fast shutter speed is your best friend. A tripod or mono pod also really helps. (but a fast shutter will make up for the lack of tripod---most of the time)
Just a little extra note: In the olden days of film there used to be rule that said the minimum shutter speed hand held was 1 over the focal length of the lens. Thus at 400mm lens required a shutter speed of at least 1/400. However, in the digital age cameras are sharper than film used to be. And if you have a full frame camera the image can be sharper yet. Thus I have found that I try to double the old rule. Thus 1/400 becomes 1/800. I get there by raising the ISO.
Sorry, this is long winded, if you have any questions please ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it for you. This applies to you and anyone in your group. It will be my pleasure.   Posted: 11/13/2020 19:43:40