Bruce Michelotti
September 2023 - Cedar Waxwing
About the Image(s)
My first sighting of a Cedar Waxwing was this summer sitting high up in a tree. There were a pair of them and they stayed mostly in the tree tops. This shot is obviously from beneath using a 100-400 lens at 400 and lots of crop! Thanks goodness for 45MP. I used Lightroom to bring out the colors and tones and some Photoshop magic to make the branch on the right look better. I understand that some have red tips and some have yellow tips on the tail feathers depending on their diet.
1/1000 sec at f/9, ISO 800
5 comments posted
An excellent nature photo. I like the detail and the colors. Crop is excellent. The bird's eye is well exposed. The eye is completely surrounded by black and it would have been so easy to underexpose. The diagonal of the main branch acts as a leading line. The perfectly straight end of the smaller branch looks odd.I changed the branch and did a little dodging around the eye. Posted: 09/19/2023 13:23:29
Thanks Mark. It was a bit difficult to get the eye well exposed with a little shine in it as the sun was never in the perfect position--that is unless I waded into the pond for a better vantage point. Thanks for the fix on the branch, I guess the Photoshop magic needed a bit more smoke and mirrors. Posted: 09/19/2023 15:42:52
Wonderful Cedar Waxwing. A perfect introduction of the bird for me. Focus, pose, colors all wonderful. such a beautiful bird, I get carried away with generative fill. I thought parts of the tree and branch were distracting so I altered them. Great shot Bruce. Posted: 09/19/2023 15:30:31
Thanks for the edit Harley. It does look better with your edits. What magic the new Photoshop has given us. I usually try not to do too much editing like that since it is not allowed in our club for nature shots and I worry that I might enter an altered shot by mistake. Although I did perform some "magic" on this one myself. Posted: 09/19/2023 15:48:49
There is a club out here, Riverwoods that rejected some members photo do to seeing some grass clippings. NO "Hand of man" . Posted: 09/21/2023 16:25:41