Springtime.....Winners & Losers!

Few bird species in my area show more evidence of the Springtime scraps that go on between males than the Northern Cardinals. I just wanted to go ahead and share these few images before the "Losers" get too beat up.

WINNER - I'd also be curious about your overall impressions of this image captured at ISO6400.

Nice shots. Looks to me that the NR removed some of the detail in the bird but it did a really good job on the BG. Maybe some selective NR would have been better? But still not bad considering 6400. The other images are quite nicely detailed.

Having checked your exif data Steve,on the basis I'd assumed you used your 1DIV for these high ISO shots, I see you used your 7D. Impressive if you'd used your 1 series, excellent with the 7D. Very interesting series of good shots, pretty Lady Cardinal and sad looking loser too!

Looks good for ISO 6400... I have a hard time getting my finger to turn the ISO dial past 400 ... The lady is beautifully done... and your loser may also have the beginnings of molting or a case of head mites, lice or parasites where they lose feathers around their eyes and head.

Dave

Great comparison shots Steve, I agree with Dave about the molting/mites on the second male.

WOWZA, that ISO6400 is cleaner than my 7D's ISO800.
Nice captures of the red birds Steve! Yeah, i feel sorry for that fella, cough****scar face***cough, too.

nice series, Steve

I'm right there with Dave on the ISO. Good shooting Steve.

Great series Steve, I feel also for the "loser", been there too many times . The lady look really lovely, no wonder she picked the handsome guy

Wow.
you have some seriously crisp pics for 1/30th of a second or so at 700mm!

great shots.
I feel for that "loser" cardinal. it just isnt fitting of such a beautiful bird. I hope it recovers.

I always feel I'm a winner if I can get in a shooting position for a Cardinal. These are both good Steve under the circumstances. At ISO 6400 you still captured a good amount of detail.

In brief, the 1st image was taken in the early evening just around sundown. The Cardinals come into my yard very predictably both early (right at sunrise) and late (sundownish), but are very spotty visitors in between those times. I was curious to find out what it would take to record them late in the day, and I guess I found out! The autofocus assist beam got a workout -

Grizz wrote in post #14125261
Nice shots. Looks to me that the NR removed some of the detail in the bird but it did a really good job on the BG. Maybe some selective NR would have been better? But still not bad considering 6400. The other images are quite nicely detailed.

Thanks for looking in Craig, and I think you're right about the detail. I can't rule out a hint of motion blur too. I'll be working on my selective NR skills!

2slo wrote in post #14125276
Having checked your exif data Steve,on the basis I'd assumed you used your 1DIV for these high ISO shots, I see you used your 7D. Impressive if you'd used your 1 series, excellent with the 7D. Very interesting series of good shots, pretty Lady Cardinal and sad looking loser too!

Much appreciated as always Mark and yes, I was happy w/the performance of the 7D. The Cardinal is so pretty I want more opportunities to do them justice.

dbriz wrote in post #14125342
Looks good for ISO 6400... I have a hard time getting my finger to turn the ISO dial past 400 ... The lady is beautifully done... and your loser may also have the beginnings of molting or a case of head mites, lice or parasites where they lose feathers around their eyes and head.

Dave

It was strange territory into which I strode Dave when I turned the dial that high -
You're probably right about a parasitic component to the feather loss, but it just doesn't sound as romantic. Thanks for your support as always.

Shar824 wrote in post #14125578
Great comparison shots Steve, I agree with Dave about the molting/mites on the second male.

Thanks for the nice comments Sharon. I've certainly seen worse looking Cardinals due to molting/mites Sharon, but I guess this guy was a "loser" either way.

cfcRebel wrote in post #14127028
WOWZA, that ISO6400 is cleaner than my 7D's ISO800.
Nice captures of the red birds Steve! Yeah, i feel sorry for that fella, cough****scar face***cough, too.

LOL, I didn't know I had gangsta Cardinals Fee - . Thanks for the ego boost too, but as you may have seen this was with my 7D.

dgraham329 wrote in post #14128685
nice series, Steve

Thanks Mr. Dean, you're comments are always welcome.

Diamond Lil wrote in post #14128968
I'm right there with Dave on the ISO. Good shooting Steve.

I'm right w/ya on the ISO most of the time Lillian, but as I explained above I'm letting too many great chances go by. I always appreciate your attention and comments as you know.

jodelak wrote in post #14129821
Great series Steve, I feel also for the "loser", been there too many times . The lady look really lovely, no wonder she picked the handsome guy

Haha jo, I think we've all played "loser" at some point in time! Thanks for your kind words and I'll pass along your compliments to "the Lady".

jhayesvw wrote in post #14130347
Wow.
you have some seriously crisp pics for 1/30th of a second or so at 700mm!

great shots.
I feel for that "loser" cardinal. it just isnt fitting of such a beautiful bird. I hope it recovers.

I hope it gets to looking better too Jeremy as you're right they are very regal when intact. As to the 1/30th......tripod, tripod, tripod, and oh yeah, remote release. Thanks for your wonderful comments.

Don1 wrote in post #14131146
I always feel I'm a winner if I can get in a shooting position for a Cardinal. These are both good Steve under the circumstances. At ISO 6400 you still captured a good amount of detail.

Thanks as always Don and I agree that I too can never get enough Cardinal captures. I was pretty happy w/the detail even after my lame attempt at PP. I'll get better....promise.

Well, the lady sure is beautiful and if I were a male Cardinal I would fight like hell for her affections too! You captured her so beautifully, Steve.
As to the first image with the high iso. It looks good, but is definitely softer with loss of detail, due , or so I'm guessing, to the Noise Reduction. Maybe sharpening a tad more here and there (they eye, some feathers on the chest, the beak a bit) might improve the image some. So yes, if I compare that image with the second one, the difference is quite noticeable. But having said that, it is still a very good image and it's an amazing result at iso6400.

Levina de Ruijter wrote in post #14132712
Well, the lady sure is beautiful and if I were a male Cardinal I would fight like hell for her affections too! You captured her so beautifully, Steve.
As to the first image with the high iso. It looks good, but is definitely softer with loss of detail, due , or so I'm guessing, to the Noise Reduction. Maybe sharpening a tad more here and there (they eye, some feathers on the chest, the beak a bit) might improve the image some. So yes, if I compare that image with the second one, the difference is quite noticeable. But having said that, it is still a very good image and it's an amazing result at iso6400.

I think your observations are right on Levina. I guess now the question is whether I can learn the techniques of working with "higher" ISO images. Thanks as always for your keen eye and kind words.