Bluebird Dawn

Just before sunrise I noticed a bluebird checking out the bluebird houses in our yard.  I grabbed the camera and headed out the back door.  I got a picture but not the one I was after.  Here’s the story…

My goal was to snap a picture of the bluebird posed on the bluebird house, framed by a big, bright sun behind him.  While I was trying to line up the shot, the bluebird flew off the house, into a nearby tree. I was able to click off a quick photo of the bird in the tree before he flew off for good.  Then I turned my camera to the sunrise and snapped a couple of frames.

The image above is a combination of two different photos (shown on the right).  I started with a shot of the sunrise and overlaid the silhouette of the tree branches with the bluebird. As you can see, the original photo of the bird and branches had a background of just light gray sky.  Not very interesting or appealing. The sunrise was pretty on it’s own, but the branches and bird adds interest .

Both photos were taken within a minute of each other. Not quite the image I was shooting for, but I think the final result turned out well.

To see a larger version of the above image, simply click the photo.