close iframe icon
approved icon frankjrosetti avatar
frankjrosetti
Banner

a tasty snack!



behind the lens badge

... Black-capped Chickadee

... Black-capped Chickadee
Read less

Views

2855

Likes

Awards

Featured
Superb Composition
dylanclements ScottKPhotography anjandeepkujur Nik_Hall16 irenetorres_4234 safisaldera taylorsisson +95
Top Choice
brendajeanneschultz Ernie32714 Lazyisme dianayangyangperando jandon920 VanOrder tonyajeanmatney +66
Absolute Masterpiece
amirhamzah19 flortovarlavera_5934 forrestsanabria sebenzecry twentythirdjuly JimKelley xxxxxxxxxxxxx +29
Peer Award
billmartin_2615 2001vermont davidjprosser ileanaandreagmezgavinoser NancyFlemingPhotography RDDIIPhotography Natedoggnms +18
Outstanding Creativity
alexandravillegas janreytapil Y_S_L ashutoshmohanty Myphotos0609 maxoncrumb IzzyBella +12
Magnificent Capture
Davista Take2Foto grantsykes susiegrayfowler olemsteffesen elianawittwer MystiqueImages +6
Superior Skill
dinukdeshan GNikolovPhotography PennySlacke Burkholder rusmanbudiprasetyo lshepherd JHPhotos +5
All Star
Iridescence Meelux KathyHolliker jamescrockford daydreamsbymary0710 beckykempf
Great Find
micaelaoliveira Steve_Webster jorgepenedo beamieyoung mjgphotog
Jaw Dropping
Edvab Fotogenica akhtarkhan
Exceptional Contrast
ericfitzgerald rahulnegi

Emotions

Impressed
JenRaymond

Top Ranks

Creative Boundaries Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Inspired By The World Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Inspired By The World Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Close Ups In Nature Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Close Ups In Nature Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 2
Close Ups In Nature Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Bokehlicious Images Photo Contest by LensbabyTop 20 rank
Bokehlicious Images Photo Contest by LensbabyTop 20 rank week 1
Photoshop World Photo ContestTop 20 rank
20 Comments | Report
AlanJakarta
 
AlanJakarta July 13, 2014
Lovely shot. Congratulations on being Featured.
akhtarkhan
 
akhtarkhan July 13, 2014
Brilliant capture.....congrats on the feature.
Dmullanephotography
 
Dmullanephotography July 13, 2014
Nice capture
lindywalker
 
lindywalker July 13, 2014
Great shot! Congrats on the feature
iceman2
 
iceman2 July 13, 2014
Beautiful shot.Congrats!
Wild_Photography
 
Wild_Photography July 13, 2014
Everyone loves the Chickadee
sweetpea72
 
sweetpea72 July 13, 2014
Beautiful... Congrats!! ")
MeghanElizabeth
 
MeghanElizabeth July 13, 2014
This is pure lovely. Chickadees alone are hard enough to capture, but while eating a worm is near impossible. Really beautiful work.
SusiStroud Platinum
 
SusiStroud July 13, 2014
Great capture! Congrats on your Feature.
justkim1106 PRO+
 
justkim1106 July 13, 2014
Beautiful shot, congratulations on the award.
Kazza60
 
Kazza60 July 13, 2014
beautiful .. congratulations on the award
traceprinslooreppin
 
traceprinslooreppin July 14, 2014
...congratulations on your Feature :-)
JHPhotos PRO+
 
JHPhotos July 24, 2014
Excellent capture! Love it
rmr731 Platinum
 
rmr731 July 26, 2014
Great capture! Congrats on being Featured!
solah
 
solah December 25, 2014
love the picture!
AliAlzuhair
 
AliAlzuhair January 21, 2015
Cute!
JoseV
 
JoseV January 29, 2015
Beautiful little bird
jenniferkrieble_5126
 
jenniferkrieble_5126 February 10, 2015
What a great shot.. Keep up the good work
DoreenBelliveau
 
DoreenBelliveau March 05, 2015
The most delicate of creatures.
ferdhart
 
ferdhart May 02, 2015
Luv this little guy! Set apart by shallow depth of field and directional light this little guy gets my full attention!
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

In the trees and shrubbery along the bank of the Allegheny River flowing through Olean in Western New York.

Time

Mid-Afternoon, between three and four o'clock. High, brilliant sunshine. Early Spring.

Lighting

It was a brilliant sunny day with the sun high in the sky which made for a very contrasty shooting environment. Additionally, shooting into the shade of trees and bushes made it all the more tricky to capture a nice exposure. I set my camera at 200 ISO (for shade) and selected aperatue-priority mode which gave me a setting of F5.6 (the depth-of-field I wanted for a sharp Chickadee and a blurred background) and 1/125 exposure (fast enough for a sitting bird). I then added two-thirds of a stop for exposure compensation to ensure a correct image in the shade.

Equipment

For this shot I used a Canon Rebel (T2i) camera with a Tamron AF (auto-focus), F4-5.6, SP70-300mm lens with VC (vibration control). Also, I used a Manfrotto monopod with a Giotto ballhead attached. The Tamron lens was equipped with a lens hood but I use no filters of any kind as I believe they all degrade the image to some degree.

Inspiration

It was early spring and the birds were returning to Western New York after migrating south for the winter, so there would be plenty of opportunities to capture all types of birds. However, the trees were rapidly filling-out with leaves, the leaves that birds love to hide in. So my window of opportunity was a short two weeks or so. Many birds arrived: Blue Jays, Robins, American Goldfinches, and more. One day, while scouting for shooting opportunities, along the riverbank I noticed that several Black-capped Chickadees had set up house in a tree stump next to the river. I hunkered-down nearby and waited for some great shots. Soon enough, Chickadees were all about in the nearby trees. One in particular got my attention as it landed on a branch; it had a neon-green worm in it's beak! I was able to fire-off several shots and knew immediately I had something special. Once I uploaded the Chickadee shots to my computer, I saw that I had indeed captured a special image of that bird. Fantastic!

Editing

Cropped the image to enhance the Chickadee and adjusted contrast and sharpness a little bit. Color is as taken by the camera.

In my camera bag

In addition to the Canon T2i, I carry two Tamron lens: a AF, F4-5.6, 70-300mm zoom with VC, and a AF, F2.8, 17-50mm zoom with VC. Sometimes I take my Canon 1.8, 50mm when I want a 'regular' perspective that I want as sharply captured as possible. Always carry lens cleaner, lens tissue and air brush in my camera bag, just in case. Depending upon the shooting situation I am attempting, I carry either my monopod or my professional Bogen tripod.

Feedback

Lighting is the KEY to every great capture, no matter what it might be! High contrast situations are hard to work with but I was able to get around the toughest time of day to shoot (brilliant noonday sunshine) and capture an excellent Chickadee image by adjusting for shots in shade which considerably leveled-out the contrast. For this image, using aperature-priority, I compensated for the low light of the shaded image by adding two-thirds of exposure compensation. Often, if I am unsure of exposure, I bracket my shots which has given me just the right exposure for many shooting situations.

See more amazing photos, follow frankjrosetti

It’s your time to shine! ☀️

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

Already a member? Log In

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, and acknowledge you've read our Privacy Policy Notice.