----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Dayton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Nice shot Christian. The IS seems to be working for you. I'm curious > as to handheld here - because you could, or because a mono/tripod was > unavailable? I was using the tripod for most of the afternoon, but when I spotted this guy I felt i needed to stalk him more quietly. Sometimes, with the tripod, just the act of moving can startle the birds. I wanted to get close enough for a full frame shot so I used bushes and trees as blinds as I crept closer. It was a good test of the IS, but to be honest, there are a bunch more shots that are out of focus due to camera shake. I'm working on purchasing/making a portable blind so I can use my tripod more effectively. > > As to the picture - overall, very nice. The backlighting on it's head > and neck really make this picture sing. My one nit is that the > foreground, at the bird's feet is blown a bit and just too > distracting. Have you tried toning it down or shifting the color a > bit away from yellow? I haven't tried a "color shift" (I don't really know how to do this). I used the dropper tool for WB (using the white patch on the bird's head) and boosted saturation a bit. The problem that occurs with the blown foreground is that in order to get the bird's body feathers with decent exposure and detail, the foreground goes with it. I have not tried selecting it and toning it down however, because, in all honesty, with the bad background, this shot is not worth the effort. Thanks for commenting. Christian
