A fine industrial waxwing in the early morning, posing

[Jack Breakfast]

Greetings folks,
Such fun did I have with a small flock of c. waxwings. All of us hung around the stormwater hardware of a local pond in the early morning. This picture was taken with the Canon 7D and 70-300L at 214mm. iso1600, 1/200, f5.6. You're looking at approximately 80% of the original capture. As always, my heart will delight to pour over your critical thoughts and ideas and suggestions and verbal pulverizations!
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[adrian dancy]

Jack ...as you know I am a sucker for urban and industrial and I'm a sucker for waxwings too.:S3:

I think you did the best you could given what you had except that you would have been better working nearer to 300mm fL. Positioning yourself to get the background green behind the bird may have been difficult and given you the wrong angle on the bird. You might try selectively working on the wing and tail feathers to put a bit more depth in the existing contrast IMHO.

[Jack Breakfast]

Adrian, I am always happy to hear from you. I "worked" this situation for about an hour and a half and got all sorts of shots. I'm quite fond of this one for many reasons I won't get into now, other than to say I don't feel this is the wrong angle on the bird. As always: different strokes, good man! That said, I'll certainly take your suggestion and work on the wing and tail feathers...

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jack, I like the varied colours on the waxwing, and feel you have exposed him well enough considering the light conditions. Comp wise, I find your crop a touch too square, so creating a vertical will work. Not the best perch, but as you described, taken around stormwater surroundings.

[gail bisson]

I would definitely go with a vertical comp here.
I like the texture of the steel perch. It has the same colors as the waxwing.
I would clone out the plastic thread- I find it distracting.
Gail

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks much Stuart and Gail,
I wasn't crazy about the plastic thread myself...the idea of removing it hadn't occurred to me, but it's certainly a possibility!
As for the vertical crop: but I love square crops! I do and I do like the square crop of this picture! Thusly I shall leave it be. But don't worry, I have no interest in beginning yet another "why square crops are distasteful" discussion...
I love this particular "perch" but in the 1.5 hrs I spent with the birds, they only landed 3 times on the good steely place, and only for a few seconds...
It was wonderful, watching those waxwings in the industrial setting for an hour and a half. Later that day they were swirling all over the nearby pond...I tried my best at some flight shots but failed every time...I went back the next day with my 400 f5.6 but by then all the good birds had moved along...

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the angle of the subject myself, and it is well exposed and sharp. If you like square go ahead and keep it that way, but for my personal taste a vertical would be the way to go for a stronger comp. One observation to make that may not have been possible as I was not there to know better: could you have gone lower to hide some or all of the white part of the BG and introduce more green to it?

[adrian dancy]

Jack
I think you misunderstood me. The angle on the bird is perfect. However it would have been nicer (I think) to have the background green. This is what Daniel above suggested but it seems that he agrees that by lowering your angle would have meant an unsatisfactory angle on the bird.

The birds don't just look good....if yours are like the Bohemian variety which we get here sometimes, then they sound great too!

[laurie golden]

Jack,

I like your bird - so colorful and such a treat that you saw many of them. And I like the perch (square with a round circle) that works well with your crop. Keep looking for the unusual.

[Jack Breakfast]

Ah folks, particularly Adrian & Daniel: I actually had to get higher to get the green in, if that makes sense. Being lower would have made the background all white. That said, I do have other shots against all green, but in that case the bird isn't quite as forthcoming or pleasant. I picked this one b/c I like the white and green mixture...
Can't thank you enough for your excellent and very smart comments, folks...
JB

p.s. I do hope I explained that well. And Adrian: PLEASE forgive me if I sounded uppity. I don't mean to get uppity over these trivial things. My writing style is vaguely moronic and unclear and quite often I'm getting the wrong ideas across! I appreciate your comments more than you know...