Playing with the Shadows – Fox Sparrow Edit –

Fox Sparrows are an uncommon sparrow in the Las Vegas area. We see a a handful each year, during migration and sometimes a few stay the winter.

I took image early in the morning, just as the sun was rising. The Fox Sparrow was deep in a thickly vegetated. Luckily, I had my tripod and was able to lower my shutter speed beyond what hand shooting would have allowed (usually when shooting at 600mm I keep my shutter speed above 500)

To get the dark colored bird the proper exposure, the surrounding lighter colored vegetation came out looking brighter than I remembered.

In post, I decided to recreate what I “saw.” I darkened the background which also removed the distracting sticks around the birds head and body.