Cedar Waxwings

[FlyFitz]

I got an email from a bird-nerd in my office the a group of about 30 Cedar Waxwings showed up outside of her 4th story office. They were gorging on ripe mulberry's way up on the tree. I took a few "document the moment" through the window type shots. Such cool birds! Wish I could have opened the window!

1.

Untitled by flyfitz, on Flickr

2.

Untitled by flyfitz, on Flickr

3.

Untitled by flyfitz, on Flickr

4.

Untitled by flyfitz, on Flickr

Thanks for checking em out.

Sean Fitz

[FrankMi]

A fine set of images indeed, Sean.

I think I would be tempted to crop a bit closer on the first one to make the subject more prominent, but not by much.

I'd try to reduce the background contrast and increase the Local Contrast Enhancement on the on Waxwing in the last one to make the subject stand out a bit more.

It is interesting that birds with helmet shaped hoods can look so different depending upon how they hold their head.

[FlyFitz]

Thanks, Frank. Really good point about the Local Contrast approach. I had the same issue with some Cape May warblers I posted a while back--they yellow-greens all blend together and the subject doesn't really stand out.

Sean Fitz

[Bobobird]

Very nice looking birds and well captured.

Frank has made some good points about making them stand out a bit more from the background.

[jprzybyla]

Nicely done Sean, and through glass. The glass did not seem to bother at all. To myself...make note of that.

[Steve S]

Nice shots sean. Cedar waxwings are beautiful birds. You seem to have a strong yellow color cast . Not shure if the whitebalance is off or you cranked the saturation in post.

[jeeperman]

Nice captures. I agree with the guys here as for the little tweaks in color and contast but nicely done. I have found these to be a tough find yet. A little early here still. I have caught one and that is it. =}

[FlyFitz]

Thanks for the feedback, all. In my custom "basic wildlife" LR preset I set Saturation to +15 AND use the Landscape Camera Calibration setting. I agree that I think this is a bit much, particularly with yellows/greens. I'll play with that when I have a chance. Thanks again.

WRT background contrast adjustments, I tried taking it down a bit last night and painting on higher contrast on the bird in LR4. It was OK, but it made the background look too flat for my tastes. Any other ways to do this in LR?

Thanks!

Sean

[Steve S]

Here is a quick edit of one of your shots , sean. With the curves tool, i decreased the red (which increases cyan). I decreased green (which increases magenta). This removed the color cast. Next i decreased the saturation a bit---sharpened---added a vinette to darken the background, which makes the bird stand out a little more. All edits were done in PS, not shure how you could get the same results in LR. Perhaps someone using LR could give some pointers.


Anyway, this is more of a proper edit in my opinion................................Hope this helps

[FlyFitz]

Steve,

Thanks for the edit! This is EXCELLENT info! Exactly the type of useful information I need to improve. I think I can actually do most of that in LR. I'll give it a try.

Sean