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Category: Before and After

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Playing Hard to Get


 
  Playing Hard to Get
Playing Hard to Get
Canon 7d, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 1/125, f/6.3 ISO 800

Beth Spencer

  
  Holding Pattern
Holding Pattern
Canon 7d, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 1/125, f/6.8, ISO 800. The birds are in a holding pattern waiting to get into the feeders. I shot this out my living room window.

Beth Spencer

  
  Puffed Up
Puffed Up
Canon 7d, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 1/15, f/6.3, ISO 800. This lady is all puffed up to stay warm in the storm.

Beth Spencer

  
 
 

Beth Spencer 		 

The female was having nothing to do with Mr. Pufed up Red.
I have several birds coming into my feeders now and 4 sets of cardinals, last year I only had 1 set, so they must like the sunflower seeds.
I wanted to post 2 more with these.


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February 08, 2013

 
- Michael Kelly

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Michael Kelly's Gallery 		  Beth I though this was one of Rita's when I first saw the thumbnail. I love to capture these nature scenes. The first two though busy show the birds well - I don't know how you get around that with all the tree branches etc. One suggestion would be to get as close as possible with a long lens to isolate the birds.

The last shot looks like you may have gone to far in your crop as it looks fuzzy to and I think I can see pixel effects. This is the look though that I was suggesting you try for in order to eliminate as much of the busy branches as possible.


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February 08, 2013

 

Beth Spencer 		  Thanks Mike, I was trying to get some isolated but didn't have a lot of luck. There are so many in the tree waiting to come in the feeders. I use the house as a blind and hang out the living room window to try and get the shots.


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February 09, 2013

 

Dale Hardin 		  I wish we had those here. Would love to see them and try some shots


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February 09, 2013

 

Jeff E Jensen 		  Yup, would be cool to have them around here as well.

I also thought these were Rita's.


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February 10, 2013

 
- Rita K. Connell

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Rita K. Connell's Gallery 		  these are great shots beth, the female all puffed up is darling, even if she is a little fuzzy. it funny I was getting ready to post a shot very similar to your original post. will post when I get back from my trip

I love it when it starts to snow because they all really flock to the feeder.

I will give you a hint about taking pictures of the birds through the window be sure to use your histogram I try to keep my ISO 500 and lower. and I get as close to the glass as I can.


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February 10, 2013

 

Peter W. Marks 		  We too have plenty of cardials when we put out the sunflower seeds. You can't beat a splash of bright red on a dull wintery day.
The 'hard to get' image particularly appeals to me.
Nice work beth.


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February 11, 2013

 

Stephen Shoff 		  For your "Playing hard to get":

My first reactions...the primary subjects are spread a little too far apart with too many obstructions between them. However, the title makes this work.

Suggestions to address Mike's observation and "clean it up a little" so that the birds present a little more strongly.
-- crop some off the the bottom, and perhaps clone out the two twigs coming up from the bottom making an "x".
-- clone out the twigs protruding from the head and back of the two birds, two for the red bird, the one coming out the back of the orange bird, and if possible the long twig coming up from the branch. As it appears to me right now, it looks like that long twig was actually in front of the bird and you just cloned out the section in front of the bird itself.
-- The birds themselves aren't quite sharp. Perhaps a slight saturation reduction that Mike has recommended in the past on their feathers might allow the edgesto show through a little. Whatever you might try for enhancing detail and texture in the birds should be applied with a mask so that it only strengthens the birds and not the busy background.


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February 11, 2013

 

Beth Spencer 		 
 
  Edit 2
Edit 2
Worked on Mike and Stephen's suggestions.

Beth Spencer

  
  Faded photo filter
Faded photo filter
I attempting cloning out the tree limbs and then put a filter on it.

Beth Spencer

  
 
Stephen, I attempted the edits you and Mike suggested. I cloned out a few of the twigs, and then I selected the birds and did a high pass filter on just them. I also reduced their saturation which helped.
Then I thought I would push them together. So I cut a chunk out of the middle and did a lot of cloning.. I didn't like it so I found a filter in Color effex 4, faded photo, that was ok.
These guys are in the tree in our backyard. I took out the screen in the window, and open the window and try to get in close.


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February 12, 2013

 
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