A male purple finch perched on a very hastily constructed set - I didn't get home with the props til the afternoon of the last day of the challenge. Then had to set it up, get the comp, prefocus on the teacup, bait it with black sunflower seeds and later, mealworms...then wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.
As we had a high of 40 degrees today with the humidity, I set up the camera on a tripod with a remote release. Still had to keep going outside to check the exposure and move the set as needed.
Thankfully this guy turned up and was listening to the click of the shutter activated by the remote.
pp: altered RAW, crop, straighten, minor cloning of hot areas, brightness/contrast, vibrance/saturation, burn highlights on teapot, resize, sharpen, save for web
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Thanks all for the nice comments and yes, I was partly influenced by vawendy, though in the past I have experimented with smaller teasets and had greater success with those than this particular setup. I think the shiny reflective nature of the old silver teapot and tray put too many species off...not even chickadees, which are usually very brazen and inquisitive, came by to take a look. Nor did the cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeak, bluejays or goldfinches :-/
But a both varieties of nuthatch (red-breasted and white) came by, but were oof. Then a sparrow came along and gave me a really good shot, but no catchlight and the shot was more about the set than the bird.
But then the purple finch came along and with that good strong blast of colour and him looking at the camera, I couldn't NOT use him! Better yet he came by later with his wife, though by then it was too late in the day to get anything decent of them. ah welll....
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An interesting idea, but I feel that you haven't entirely pulled it off. The lighting, on the bird in particular is somewhat harsh with parts in deep shadow and others a little too bright. Worth experimenting more though, and I would have been delighted to have enticed a bird into my set-up.
Purple Finch, male. I assume the bird came for the sunflower seeds and stayed for tea. Elegant props. The totally blacked out background is not my favorite thing, but it does create a dramatic presentation and throws focus to the finch. 8
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