Syed Bughdadi
June 2025 - American Redstart
About the Image(s)
Photo taken with Canon R5 with RF 200-800mm lens 1/640 sec, ISO 5000, f/9 at 800mm.
Post processing was done in Lightroom. Used Denoise and some sharpening. Lowered highlights and raised shadows, and heavily cropped.
This is a small migratory bird that landed in the Texas Upper Coast for maybe a day or two before continuing on its journey North to Canada.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted
Allen Kurth
Redstarts can be a challenge to photograph. They are small and move quickly. I like the pose. Posted: 06/11/2025 13:27:15
James Nelson
The fanned tail feathers add interest to a colorful image. It might be due to cropping or the higher ISO, but feather detail on the head would be better. Shutter speed lower that reciprical of the focal lenth could have contributed also. Posted: 06/17/2025 15:53:05
(Group 3)
Syed,
A lovely bird in an interesting pose. Unfortunately, your extreme crop and processing have given it a very low-res appearance, similar to what you get by taking a single frame from a video.
I also feel that you have cropped it too tightly, since it's a small, active bird and you removed every scrap of story here. You can give it significantly more space to the viewer's left and above the bird, potentially doubling the amount of pixels from the original capture. Start fresh, take it into DXO Pure Raw or some other enhancement program to upscale it first, then into LR or CR to crop and massage the exposure, shadows and highlights. I personally would increase the Tint on the perch to warm it up a little, it's just really blah here.
Then I would pass it through Topaz AI and see if it can pull some pleasing detail up and make it look like a photo instead of a video capture.
Lillian Posted: 06/19/2025 16:16:09
A lovely bird in an interesting pose. Unfortunately, your extreme crop and processing have given it a very low-res appearance, similar to what you get by taking a single frame from a video.
I also feel that you have cropped it too tightly, since it's a small, active bird and you removed every scrap of story here. You can give it significantly more space to the viewer's left and above the bird, potentially doubling the amount of pixels from the original capture. Start fresh, take it into DXO Pure Raw or some other enhancement program to upscale it first, then into LR or CR to crop and massage the exposure, shadows and highlights. I personally would increase the Tint on the perch to warm it up a little, it's just really blah here.
Then I would pass it through Topaz AI and see if it can pull some pleasing detail up and make it look like a photo instead of a video capture.
Lillian Posted: 06/19/2025 16:16:09
Syed Bughdadi
Lillian,
Since I do not take videos, i have no idea what a single frame from a video looks like. The story of migratory bird photos has three parts: 1. Can you recognize the bird species, 2. Where was it taken and 3. What time of the year it was taken. Anything more like an isolated shot with a good pose that shows the eye in focus, etc are bonus. It is understood that these birds are in thick foliage and hard to see and photograph.
I am having a lot of trouble with your direction of size and crop. I don't think I have the smarts to get that right. Posted: 06/29/2025 12:23:12
Since I do not take videos, i have no idea what a single frame from a video looks like. The story of migratory bird photos has three parts: 1. Can you recognize the bird species, 2. Where was it taken and 3. What time of the year it was taken. Anything more like an isolated shot with a good pose that shows the eye in focus, etc are bonus. It is understood that these birds are in thick foliage and hard to see and photograph.
I am having a lot of trouble with your direction of size and crop. I don't think I have the smarts to get that right. Posted: 06/29/2025 12:23:12
(Group 3)
Syed, please always take my input in the context of your intentions with the image. My comments will be directed toward making a given image more competitive in international exhibitions. That is the stated purpose of this discussion group, but not everyone here enters competitions and that is not at all required.
Given your description of your own goals, you must admit that one cannot tell where this image was taken. If you are giving a presentation to your local birding group, then it's a perfect image while you narrate the story. But if the image needs to stand on its own, then the viewer needs to be able to tell something about where or how the bird lives. In competition, it's not enough to just know the species, the image will be compared against others that were closer and/or more detailed, or tells more of a story.
Personally, if an image lends itself to a 16:9 ratio, I will always choose that because it takes full advantage of the 1920x1080 ratio allowed in most international exhibitions. Some images do better with a different ratio and that must be weighed first.
In this case, you indicated that you used a severe crop to obtain this shot. The result is a loss of detail in the bird's feathers, and lack of sharpness in the eye. The closeness emphasizes the blade of grass in the BG that cuts through the bill. The boring gray log it stands on does nothing to enhance the visual appeal of the image. If you zoom out a bit, including more of the surroundings and possibly warming up the perch, you get a better sense of the life this bird lives, and one doesn't mind the lack of detail as much.
Lillian Posted: 06/29/2025 12:45:29
Given your description of your own goals, you must admit that one cannot tell where this image was taken. If you are giving a presentation to your local birding group, then it's a perfect image while you narrate the story. But if the image needs to stand on its own, then the viewer needs to be able to tell something about where or how the bird lives. In competition, it's not enough to just know the species, the image will be compared against others that were closer and/or more detailed, or tells more of a story.
Personally, if an image lends itself to a 16:9 ratio, I will always choose that because it takes full advantage of the 1920x1080 ratio allowed in most international exhibitions. Some images do better with a different ratio and that must be weighed first.
In this case, you indicated that you used a severe crop to obtain this shot. The result is a loss of detail in the bird's feathers, and lack of sharpness in the eye. The closeness emphasizes the blade of grass in the BG that cuts through the bill. The boring gray log it stands on does nothing to enhance the visual appeal of the image. If you zoom out a bit, including more of the surroundings and possibly warming up the perch, you get a better sense of the life this bird lives, and one doesn't mind the lack of detail as much.
Lillian Posted: 06/29/2025 12:45:29
Hi Syed,
I agree with Lillian's comments, but a really nice pose. Posted: 06/25/2025 10:23:18
I agree with Lillian's comments, but a really nice pose. Posted: 06/25/2025 10:23:18
Howard Frank
I like the pose and I also agree with Lillians comments. Posted: 06/25/2025 10:35:35
I love the colours of the bird and its rare pose. not a regular bird pose Posted: 06/28/2025 01:30:11