Recently I got bought a new toy 400 F2.8 lens and I went for testing it. Surprisingly it's very sharp lens even at F2.8 (I’ll write a full review in coming days including 2 teleconverters 1.4x(Mark III) and 2.0x(Mark III))
As soon as I saw this photo, immediately visualise it as a photograph in a foggy weather.
Red Wattlebird
This can be done by using below steps…
*You need a defused light e.g. cloudy day to achieve this.
Step 1 - Shoot a photo with white or bright background and some elements as frame to give third dimension (in this particular case tree branches are acting as frame from top)
Make sure limit your depth of field to achieve sharp focus only for the bird and rest should be blurred.
Step 2 –In post processing, I used Lightroom and added foggy effect on all except bird by using Dehaze functionality(around -15 to -25 depending on your exposure), and also to match the bird to the environment I did add slight fog to the bird as well. Dehaze is similar to reducing the contrast
The resulting photograph gives the feeling of early morning foggy scene which looks mesmerising.
I hope this will help you to go out even on a cloudy day and enjoy the nature at all time.
Some information about Red Wattlebird
The Red Wattlebird is a large, noisy honeyeater. The common name refers to the fleshy reddish wattle on the side of the neck. The plumage is grey-brown on the body, with prominent white streaks and yellow on the belly. The face is pale and the tail is long with a white-tip. Young Red Wattlebirds are duller than the adult and have a brown, rather than reddish, eye. The wattle is also very small and pale.
Similar species:
The Red Wattlebird is among the largest of the Australian honeyeaters. In Tasmania it is replaced by the larger Yellow Wattlebird, Anthochaera paradoxa. This species is identified by its long, yellow wattle.
More details here