On the fence with this one

[Richard Unsworth]

:S3:
Hi

Im surrounded by sheep, which means I am surrounded by sheep fence lol
All the local little birds appear on the fences just begging to be captured. Not so easy as that though, everything that lives here is wary of man. This lovely Stonechat is a case in point and this is my closest frame in 5 months!

Adjusted hl in DPP and NR to BG , cropped to taste.

7D 100-400 1/1600 F8 ISO 400 ME HH

[Karl Egressy]

Nice looking back pose, Richard. the whites look kind of hot on my monitor.

[Mike Milicia]

Nice bird, excellent pose, and killer BG!

Sounds like it might be a good situation for attaching a perch to a fence post.

[Richard Unsworth]

aye Mike will give that a try when it stops raining!

Karl top white point reads 245 here, that collar and back area is difficult with these.

Can give it a NAL Linear Burn though

[jack williamson]

Plenty of detail, excellent look back and a great BG.

[PhilCook]

Nice over the shoulder stare and nice detail showing through, great clutter free backdrop, possibly a little over sharpened and/or from adjusting highlights as it looks just a bit harsh.

Mike's idea of branches attached to the fence line will work well, I have did same last year when I noticed several birds including Flame Robins perching on a barb wire fence in grazing country. I simply wired some branches to the top wire so they were higher than the fence, didn't take long until the bird sat atop the branch rather than the wire. Much of the time birds will adopt the higher perch to get a better vantage point and feel more secure. I have done same in the stubble in wheat fields here by simply standing a stick/branch upright in the field above the stubble and the birds then perched on top of that...voila !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot Rich, I like the pose and the detail is very good. You may consider lowering the contrast just a tad on the bird.
I am a little surprised at the colour of the wire - was it green?

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Jon

wire is as it is :-) no cast on frame.
made me laugh actually cos I was just looking at a house for sale and the ad says "with green view"

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Rich - happy with image colour - just surprised at green fence that's all.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hmmm - zinc coated?