Pine Grosbeak

[Shawn Zierman]

An image of an interestingly colored bird. She looks like a female, but the orange is so bright and covers
so much of the bird's chest area, that I was left wondering if this was not a young male...Pine Grosbeaks
are enthusiastic consumers of ornamental crab apples. It can be difficult to get "clean" compositions in this
type of setting, so I was relatively pleased with this rendering. The light was soft and flat, so I went with a
higher key exposure, then pushed the contrast in post. Canon7d, Sigma50/500os, iso800, f9, 1/250, cropped,
USM. Image made a couple of days ago in Duluth, Minnesota.
Comments and critiques always appreciated.
Regards,
Shawn Zierman.


<iframe width="468" scrolling="no" height="60" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" border="0" src="http://mer54715.datafeedfile.com/widget/aff_widget_prdt_generate-2.0.php?aff_num=10536&aff_net=1&widget_num=2045" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"><p>Your browser does not support iFrame.</p></iframe>

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, berries, details and sharpness. I would remove the twig on the right that is not attached to the main stem. High key makes the bird and berries stand out. Nice image Shawn.

[dankearl]

Nice High key image and a very attractive bird.
I think toning down the brightness a bit would look nice.

[gareth thomson]

Hey Shawn - well done. Looks like something right out of John J Adubon's Birds of America. I think Jim's advice about the twig is good.

[John Cooper]

Well done Shawn - the bright BG really makes the bird and berries pop out at you. Your crop has provided a very pleasent composition, but agree that the isolated twig could be removed.

[Satish Ranadive]

Shawn:
Marvelous high key image.Beautiful composition.Cute bird with nice colors and details.Beautiful perch with red berries.
Love the frame.
Would remove the twig in the LRC.

Regards,
Satish.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot.
Very nice pose, great perch, love the high key, sharp, and great comp.
Well done.

[David Salem]

Nice shot. Exposed well and lots of detail. Great perch and yes to removing the twig on the right. Like the comp and the scene is well balanced. Great work

[christopher galeski]

very nicepose,fancy little bird,agree on cloning the twig.thanks.

[Randy Stout]

Shawn:

Excellent dorsal view and nice head angle. Image tells a story, colors pop, high key a good choice. Agree about floating stick.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Great pose and head turn. Wonderful comp - it does indeed have an Audubon look to it. Nice work on the exposure choice. I might imagine even a tiny bit more contrast, or black added, to the bird. Beautiful shot.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh yeah this is beautiful! Superb vertical comp, and the high-key treatment works very well. I love the berry pushing up against the subject, how cool. The extra twig has been mentioned, and I agree. Artistically a very strong image...way to go!!

[Jon Swanson]

I like the color of the bird against the high key BG Shawn. I think it sets the bird, and this particular color, off very well. Techs look good as well. It is up to you but you might think about cloning that little branch coming in from the bottom right. I like it as is because this is a typical habitat for this species.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Shawn, Love the high key in this, which in turn really show up the rich colours. I do like the placement of the grosbeak, and just enough space all round. An opportunity well used.

[Declan Troy]

Hi Shawn,

Lovely shot. I think you reasoned the age and sex of this bird correctly. Male cardueline finches (includes pine grosbeaks) typically don't produce red pigments until they are 2 years old (the molt after the next breeding season). Until then they are similar to females. In the case of pine grosbeaks it seems that young males have more of an orange tinge than females. I waffle because I have never handled an orange one when it was possible to properly discern the sex. I can't quite make out the detail in the image but the shape of the tail feathers looks like those of a young bird.

Declan

[Melissa Groo]

Beautiful and artistic shot. One of the rare high key images I really really like. Great colors and composition.

[Grace Scalzo]

What a treat ! I love this image, so artistic with the nice curves and colors.

[arash_hazeghi]

it is a very nice setup with the right perch and nice details + HA. I agree on loosing the floating twig.

[Shawn Zierman]

Thanks for the great feedback.
To clarify, this is not a set-up. My thought on the small twig, LRC...
the twig does not transect anything, is small enough that I don't mind
not seeing where it is joined on the branch, and generally goes with the
"flow" of the other elements in the image, and again, it's not a set up perch,
so an (imperfection?) here or there is acceptable to me.. That's why I left it.
Still, I can easily see the reasoning behind the suggestions to eject it.