Superb Fairy-wrens and a Brown Honeyeater

[wigz]

The females usually seem more cooperative than the males but today I managed more males

1. Male Superb Fairy-wren. Some twigs removed from this one.


2. Many twigs removed from this one


3.


4. Female looking like a ball of fluff. I didn't bother cleaning this up as there is a bit too much and I don't particularly like the pose. Wouldn't be difficult with the Photoshop Remove tool though.


5. Brown Honeyeater

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day Alan

Some wonderful images here mate - well done
....... and as I have mentioned before - how the hell do you (and others) get so many damn fine images seemingly so close to your subjects?
Phil

[wigz]

Thanks Phil. As you perceptively note, I'm sometimes only seemingly close to the subject. I cheat - some of these are large crops. The Brown Honeyeater in particular was really too far away and I wouldn't normally even try to take it. I'll post a couple of full frame shots below this.

[wigz]

A couple of full-frame shots showing how much cropping you can get away with on a 45 miegapixel sensor. Both with default conversion in LightRoom with no other post-processing. Crops like these are fine for online viewing but have limited options for printing

The Brown Honeyeater. This one isn't quite as sharp as it could be but the crop in the original post could be printed at 8x10 at 300ppi



One of the Fairy-wrens. This is a bit closer and the crop in the original post could be printed at 8x12.

[David_MC]

Excellent shots. Really like those first two of the Fairy-wrens.

[wigz]

Thanks David

[Isac]

All great shots Alan. That's why we use zoom lenses, so we can get shots we know will need cropping and also most importantly so we don't get too close to the birds, which may cause them some angst. Cropping isn't cheating mate - along with the editing, it's just a part of what we do to present our work as best we can for the viewer.
Just a small note about removing sticks, twigs, leaves etc, make sure it is seamless. Sometimes it shows when there are remnants left behind showing soft areas which don't fit the surrounds.
I did a couple of edits to show what I mean, if you want to see - let me know.

[wigz]

Thanks Isac. It’s always best to fill the frame but next to impossible with small or very shy birds, so you do the best you can.

I know what you mean about remnants. Lightroom is a bit weak on this so I normally use Photoshop, but occasionally I’ll try to get away with just using LightRoom.

[Isac]

As you know I'm not a fan of LR so it's Photoshop only for me - been using it since the early 90's so it suits my needs. I've played many times with LR because a lot of folks say it's the best, but it was so restrictive for detailed edits, that it just didn't cut the mustard. I'm sure that anything LR can do, I can do in PS.