Gray-crowned & Black Rosy Finches

[Nancy Bell]

The recent snowstorm brought 2 unusual individuals to my yard today - a Gray-crowned & a Black Rosy Finch. I photographed from an open window, using the window frame as support. Although I was only 5 feet from the finches, it was very difficult to get the birds in focus since there was a constant veil of snowflakes between the camera and the birds. This is one of the better images. I especially like that it is easy to compare the 2 different species.

I am in northern Colorado, at 8,000 ft, waiting for spring!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 300 f4 L IS, 1/800, f5, exp. comp. +1 1/3, ISO 800.

[Randy Stout]

Nancy:

I like the snow, matching poses, overall exposure. You may be able to tease out a bit more detail from the snow. If you have color efex pro, the detail extractor could help there.

The grasses on the right are a bit distracting against the snow, and I might try a version without, to see how it strikes you.

It snowed here yesterday, but today the peepers came out for the first time, high around 60s. Hurray for springtime.

Cheers

Randy

[Nancy Bell]

Randy, I would love to lose the grass, but don't think I have enough to repair the tail. I'll run the image through detail extractor and see what happens to the snow.

[Tim King]

Outstanding photo. Lucky you. I'd love a shot at a rosy.

[Nancy Bell]

I worked on the suggestions you made Randy. Surprisingly I think I was able to make the tail repair passable. Using detail extractor did find more snow detail, but it was pretty gray and more like blobs. I reduced the effect in front of the birds, but left the added detail below the birds. Your suggestions gave me the extra incentive to work on that tail & grasses. Thanks!

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you, Tim. I was thrilled to have the Rosies show up. This is only the 4th time for a Gray-crowned in my yard, and the 1st for the Black Rosy, in the 6 years I've been here.

[Randy Stout]

Nancy:

A sig. improvement to my eyes. Yes, the detail extractor can easily be overdone, but i like where you ended up. There is enough texture around the birds to help ground/anchor the image better.

Cheers

Randy

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image of two different species together.Re post is excellent.Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[David Salem]

Nice shot of these unique little birds. I like the snow on the beaks and the exposure and the detail. The repost looks great. TFS

[Faraaz Abdool]

Excellent shot, Nancy. RP is great, very clean and properly done. Good job with repairing the tail!

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all. Your comments are much appreciated!