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Hey, Buddy!
1st PlaceHey, Buddy!
freakin_hilarious


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Rule of Thirds IV (Basic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Lens: Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 II/III USM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Date: Aug 25, 2009
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/640 sec
Galleries: Nature, Birds
Date Uploaded: Aug 25, 2009

 [Aug. 26th, 2009 12:42:48 AM]

Got my final edit in at the last minute so I'm adding the details after voting started.

These two have been flying and playing and eating together around our butterfly bushes in the backyard recently. I got a few crappy shots of one of them in the last day or two with the 100mm. Today I decided to try with the crappy 75-300. To my total amazement I was able to capture this moment. It's not as sharp as I would like, but it's the best shot I've ever taken with this lens, that's for sure. The background is the house behind ours. :)

Shot in RAW: adjusted white balance, crop

PS CS4:
More crop
Topaz adjust (used one of the presets), edit|fade down to 40% or so (as I recall) in normal mode.
NI
B/W layer at 30% for desat
Selective Color (blackened up the blacks a little)
Hue/Sat layer (bumped the sat and lightness of the yellows)
Photo Filter (cooling filter #82 at 16%)
Brightness/Contrast (45/20)
Resize to 1280
Sharpen x2
Resize to 640
Save for web

Thanks a bunch for the votes and comments! I'm amazed!

Original:


Statistics
Place: 1 out of 194
Avg (all users): 7.0357
Avg (commenters): 8.6667
Avg (participants): 7.1571
Avg (non-participants): 6.9490
Views since voting: 10243
Views during voting: 324
Votes: 168
Comments: 53
Favorites: 23 (view)

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AuthorThread
 09/08/2009 09:31:22 PM
How wonderful. Great focus and capture! Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/08/2009 06:27:08 PM
This shot is awesome and the colors are perfect!! Beautiful!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/06/2009 09:57:34 PM
this looked almost like a eastern water-colour painting. it's lovely!

and congrats
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2009 08:36:35 PM
Oh, I so knew this will ribbon! What a shot! Very unique colors and lighting. I so love this!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2009 11:39:10 PM
WHOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! Way to go, dude! Beautiful shot, well deserved ribbon! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2009 09:58:12 PM
I've shot a million images of these little guys, so I can really appreciate your effort. Congratulations on the well deserved blue. Nice work!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2009 06:01:57 PM
Congratulations on your ribbon, totally deserving of the blue. For some reason this reminds me of Japanese art.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2009 12:44:53 AM
Beautiful job with your processing to add an ethereal lightness to the scene. Great crop too. Congrats on the lovely blue ribbon to go with it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 05:33:42 PM
Great capture, love the way you caught them when they were looking at each other. Congrats on the blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 03:38:21 PM
congrats - i know these guys are hard to capture.... well done.

Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Playing? :) Don't you know 90% of the hummingbird language is curse words? They hate each other. But great capture. Congrats on the ribbon.


i was going to say about the same thing, but saw your post. they will even fight off their own offspring to protect a feeding spot. i saw one beat the hell out of a butterfly once too.

Message edited by author 2009-09-02 15:39:02.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 02:33:41 PM
Congrats on your blue! I love the toning in this image. Perfect in every way!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 12:55:27 PM
well deserved BR!! CONGRATS!! fabulous image! they are such a bear to capture..you did so excellently!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 11:04:22 AM
Incredible to capture both of them at the same time. A big congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 10:57:07 AM
Great shot Nathan and a well deserved blue... I'll get you next time eh lol
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 10:38:57 AM
This is so beautiful and wonderfully delicate. Congrats on winning, Nathan. Well deserved.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 10:14:47 AM
Love this shot! Congrats on your ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 09:23:48 AM
Sweet shot dude, very deserving of the ribbon, well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 08:45:42 AM
You already know I love this shot, and I'm still impressed that you were able to capture it with our hardly-ever-used crappy 75-300! You're in the top row for scores with this lens, that's pretty cool too. And the blue ribbon in a rule of thirds challenge? Seriously awesome! :D
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 06:21:50 AM
Gorgeous work, well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 04:45:10 AM
Very nice. Japanese-A-Licious sensibility... cool.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 04:10:49 AM
I didn't vote this challenge, so have only just seen this - straight into my faves, freakin_awesome!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 03:59:33 AM
love this!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 01:57:26 AM
Cool shot! Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 01:48:55 AM
yea! i was hoping you would get the ribbon. congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 01:41:38 AM
it's beautiful. well captured. congrats
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 12:32:06 AM
Playing? :) Don't you know 90% of the hummingbird language is curse words? They hate each other. But great capture. Congrats on the ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 12:17:48 AM
Looove the colors!!! Nice work, Congratulations on the blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 12:16:02 AM
Congrats!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2009 12:16:01 AM
this is just a standout image with lovely processing, a great capture to have under your belt. Congrats on another blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
09/01/2009 09:40:30 PM
I gave this a 10 (earlier). The processing threw me off for a while... but now, it gets better every time I look at it. If I had an 11, I'd give it to you. So perfect.

Message edited by author 2009-09-02 09:53:33.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2009 03:05:25 PM
love this photo! i know how hard it is to photography those little guys. like the color too. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2009 11:00:27 AM
This it beautiful. I love the colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2009 02:15:57 PM
Amazing quality.
Love the color and softness.
Definately a 10!!
I hope this ribbons =]
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2009 07:29:49 AM
Wow, this is stunning! The light, the position of the birds and plants... My favourite from this challenge!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2009 10:39:47 PM
Great example of the rule of thirds. I like the sharp focus and the nice blur of the wings. I would prefer more vibrant colors, though.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2009 10:32:10 PM
Wonderful shot. I love the way the bird on the left is looking up at his incoming counterpart. Great job on the thirds. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2009 04:17:30 PM
I love the lighting and the stark colors
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2009 04:38:46 PM
This almost has the feeling of a Japanese Silk Screen painting - quite delightful in both it's detail and it's delicacy.

Then there's the title :- )

Very nice shot though.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/28/2009 05:56:06 PM
This is my favorite of the challenge. very, very nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/28/2009 01:21:15 PM
Excellent composition. I like the color effect you did. To me it's just a very nice, pleasing shot! 10!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/28/2009 06:38:32 AM
stunning
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/27/2009 07:02:09 AM
GREAT capture, my fav so far in this challenge!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 07:13:43 PM
OH...very cool! The processing is killer! I hope you do well!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 05:08:07 PM
The rule of thirds is great, including both of the little guys. I love the stop motion of the higher one'w wings. That background almost beige is funky for me. I think black and white would have really been the way to go. :~)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 04:16:53 PM
Breathtaking, 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 04:15:59 PM
They are feisty critters. Could you have cropped it so that the eye of each bird was at an intersection?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 12:02:10 PM
Very graceful and good example of rule of thirds. Great capture. I wish there was more color in those colorful birds. Still this is outstanding.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 11:32:09 AM
Outstanding.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 10:31:45 AM
Nice capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 08:49:10 AM
This picture is really beautiful! I like it very much! Thumbs up! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 04:41:17 AM
great catch!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 12:56:44 AM
I can't understood how you can make a picture like this, I got to put a 10, you deserve it !
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2009 12:26:09 AM
thats going to be hard to beat ahah. nice 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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