["VT"]

Hello,

I'm very, very new to digital photography. We had a Varied Thrush overwinter in our backyard this year from Dec 14th to March 29th, which is a pretty rare occurance in Calgary. As a result, my husband and I bought ourselves a Panisonic DMC-FZ10 for Christmas to try and record this wary bird. This was one of the best shots I took, but I'm sure it could be improved, either by software, or technique (if he returns next winter...)
Action Program
ISO 50
F/Stop 2.8
Shutter 1/125
Full 12X Optical Zoom
Overcast, dull day

Any, and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[robinm]

Hi Shauneen,

I am no expert but by adjusting the levels and using unsharp mask in Photoshop I have come up with this. I am sure that this can be improved on.

Nice shot BTW.

[mipettin]

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Hi

This is a lovely looking thrush - merits being posted in the main gallery.

A few comments:

It is difficult to take good shots in overcast conditions but you've done a fine job here - some sun really makes a big difference particularly if it is over your shoulder.

Trick with wildlife photography is often getting down to the animals level rather than being above it and taking a picture looking down. Not always possible or practical though.

As for this shot I would crop the image and lose some of the background to the right of the thrush. Also maybe boost the saturation of colours as overcast conditions mean images are often a touch flat.

Anyway hope these comments are helpful - look forward to more posts

Martin
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[Adey Baker]

Toning down some of the shiny wet areas with the 'burn' tool may help to concentrate on the bird

[CJW]

What a great shot of a superb bird. Much better than the one I saw in 1982......

[Steve G]

Originally Posted by CJW

What a great shot of a superb bird. Much better than the one I saw in 1982......

Aye.
Photoshop tweaks or not this is an image to be proud of. Your audience wants more!

[juninho]

Lovely bird-here's my 'quick-fix' effort.The steps were:
1.Slight use of levels to lighten the mid-tones.
2.Application of 'Digital Velvia' action to increase colour saturation.
3.Increase contrast slightly to bring the bird out of the background more.
4.A little bit more colour saturation increase using 'Hue/saturation' command.
5.Sharpening-I used Focal Blade 1.02b on medium setting,but Unsharp Mask would do just as well.Here's a sharpening recipe I picked up on the web that I like:
1.USM,settings 200,0.5,0.
2.EDIT-Fade unsharp mask;set Mode to Luminosity,opacity to 100%.
3.USM,150,0.3,0.
4.EDIT-Fade unsharp mask as above.
5.USM,100,0.3,0.
6.EDIT-Fade unsharp mask as above.

Finally,I cropped out some of the background to focus more attention on the bird.
As mipettin said above,dull conditions aren't conducive to spectacular shots but this is a nice one.
Best wishes,Pete

["VT"]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. I will try out the 'tweaking' and post it to the gallery. I have quite a few pictures of this Thrush, and some are even in the sun! I don't think there are too many VATH pictures in the gallery, so perhaps they will be enjoyed. I was even able to record his song with the camera - now that took a great deal of editing to get rid of the city bus noises in the background!

Thanks again for the great feedback,