Ring-necked Pheasant Portrait

[Steve Wasson]

Canon 7D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4TC, 1/800 @f/5.6 ISO 200. LR, CS5, cropped to portrait from landscape. Shot from my vehicle. Cloudy, but bright conditions.
This pheasant was standing on the shoulder of the road as we drove home from an unfruitful morning of shooting water fowl. I planned to keep on driving, as they are very skittish birds, but the wife made me turn around! And he stayed there while I turned and pulled up on the opposite shoulder of the 2-lane road. He got nervous and hopped over the still-present, 2 ft high snow bank. He left enough body visible above the snow for a portrait. Snow covered field in background.

[Diane Miller]

I love the effect of the snow to isolate the bird as you might see it in an illustration. Lovely!

[David Salem]

Nice work. Love the snow framing the colorful Ring-neck. Exposure and details look great. Looks like an acrylic painting. Like it!

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely details,
I like the colors presented and the framing is fantastic

[Mike Milicia]

Very cool ... love the graphic nature of this combined with the vibrant colors.

A bit tight for my taste especially on the left. If you have more room, might try leaving more space on the left and balance it with more on the bottom ... and maybe even a little more on the right.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is a fantastic high-key presentation! Only the comp needs to be improved...Mike's suggestion is a good one.

[Gary Esman]

I miss these guys here in Michigan. They used to be all over the place and running through the fields behind our house. Excellent portrait here, as mentioned the snow framing is very nice.

Gary.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely colors and I love how you have framed him with the snow. Agree it's a tad tight.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent portrait, one of the best photos of the ring-necked pheasant and I like the composition as is. the snow really takes this one to the top. congrats

[Roman Kurywczak]

I'm fine with this as presented.....go figure :S3:. The snow framing takes this one to another level and the exposure is dead on! Sweeeeet!!!