Perched Crow
Nature,  Photo Stories

The Story Behind the Photo: Finally a Crow Photo

Finally a Crow Photo Story

For some reason, I had never taken a really good photo of a crow.  I’ve taken a ton of bird photos, but when I looked back in Lightroom, no crows.  It seems really odd.  I don’t know whether they are that wary or its just bad luck.

I was hiking Cuyahoga Valley National Park on a bright, sunny winter morning .  The crow was off in the distance.  I couldn’t get a shot as he was blocked by branches.  I decided to wait there at the Beaver Marsh and see if he came any closer.  Luck was with me that morning.  The crow landed on the same dead tree that I photographed the Nuthatches.  It must be my lucky tree.

Finally a Crow Photo Details

Camera:  Canon 5d Mark iii
Lens:  Canon 500mm f/4 IS with 1.4x teleconverter
Focal Length:  700mm
ISO:  400
Aperture:   f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/2500
Exposeure Compensation: +1/3
Lighting: Clear, Sunny winter morning.  Sun was at my back front lighting the crow.

Bird Photo Post Processing

  • Cropped the image using the Develop Module in Lightroom and used the shadows slider to brighten the shadows.
  • Used Viveza 2 to lighten his eye and darken the dead tree.
  • Used Topaz DeNoise and a Layer Mask in Photoshop CC to selectively remove the noise from the sky.
  • Selectively sharpened the bird and tree trunk using the unsharp filter and a layer mask in Photoshop CC.

Related Posts
Walking the Towpath at CVNP – Tips for Wildlife and Bird Photography
Photographing the Great Blue Heron Rookery at Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Photographing the Spring Bird Migration at Magee Marsh

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