What a Tit!

[InaGlo]

... Well Im quite chuffed with this one despite the caste from the late afternoon sun.
Im having fun just seeing how physically close I can actually get ... havent really got much choice with the 70-200mm :p


http://195.177.193.138/gallery/data/500/feb_08_075_1.jpg

[gibbo]

wow thats brilliant you must have only been a few feet from it. Great shot :thumbs:

[taxi]

Nice photo

did you glue him to the branch?

I can't get anywhere near that close to the little bu**ers

[CT]

You must have got close for that one!:D

Just shows it can be done. :thumbs:

[IanC_UK]

I can just see Glo in her Black camo :) sneaking up on that :)

Very nice and very close Glo :)

[mobilevirgin]

Excellent composition and lovely light. Over-sharp?

[Jo]

What a lovely shot Glo! :clap: You nailed it, and I kinda like the colour cast ... don't see any reason to change it when that is how your eyes saw it ;)

[Joe T]

Well done!

[hairy]

Great shot Glo :thumbs:
Got the deatail in feathers, and the eye is clear too :clap:

[HIMUPNORTH]

The bird would have thought the approaching nails was food. ;)


Great shot, with such a narrow dof you have done well to get it sharp in the right places. :clap:

:thumbs:

[Slapo]

Smooth bokeh :D

Good shot, the late afternoon cast makes it nicely warm imo. The sharpening technique you've used does seem a bit rough, though.

[Graham H]

well done
its a cracker

[mmcp42]

excellent shot, ma'am!

[Forbiddenbiker]

A belter Glo. Fab comp with the eye and turned head, great background and pin sharp.



:clap::clap:

Wish Id taken that. :thumbs:

[InaGlo]

Thanks for feedback peeps. :thumbs:

I was very close, & Im amazed how well this came out.
Id spent a few hours baiting them in the local park, and after my fingers froze to the camera, I decided to call it a day with nowt to show for it.
I was putting my kit away when the Tit came down just a couple of feet from me, so I picked the camera up with the 70-200mm/1.4 converter, and grabbbed this hand held.:D

Now then, my old bugbear with feathery things ... the sharpness thing?
Im just not sure how far to push it. Sometimes even the slightest sharpening seems to make the highlights jaggy on the feathers.
I guess this shows more with heavy crops, but this wasnt reallly a heavy crop.

Here is a close up crop ... and yes to my eye, there seems almost too much detail now.
I can see where every highlight stands out dammit! :lol:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/Glorsclaws/feb080751head.jpg

[CT]

Difficult really Glo. The highlights were obviously there due to the light, and digital sharpening works by increasing contrast between adjoining light and dark areas so it makes the highlights stand out. Sharpening is a personal thing, but I wouldn't call this shot over-sharpened. I find that by the time the highlights are looking really overdone you're getting sharpening halos around the outline anyway, which you aren't doing here.

Sharpening is ultimately always a fine judgement call and people will disagree, so keep using your own judgement, but certainly dont be scared of too much detail - that's why you paid all that dosh for that lens and if it isn't sharp you're not doing the lens justice.

Nice to see you getting results like this - once you've got the technique down it's half the battle. ;)

EDIT.

It's just worth making the point that these two very different images should have been sharpened individually after resizing

[InaGlo]

Thanks muchly for your input CT :thumbs:

Still have much to learn in this area, and though Ive always been confident of my own eye with my PP, when it comes to birds, Im just a little unsure.
In the above image, I think the focus is mainly on the white feathers as they are so sharp, having masses of detail, & just a little of the highlights blowing towards the botom area.
Perhaps when I sharpened, I should have pulled white feathers back a little, as they were already so sharp & more prominent because of the highlights.

I can just see me now... processing each feather individually, one strand at a time! :lol:

[lammie]

That's a very good shot Glo, they get better and better. You must have a very good tutor;).