Evening Grosbeak

[gail bisson]

Took this in Ingonish last weekend.
The parents look so tatty and disheveled after raising their young.
Canon 1DX
F 600mm and 1.4x
BG consists of ragweed plants and pine trees
ISO 640
SS 1/2000
f 9
6:00PM
PP- Crop ~ 15% for comp, used feeder to attract, NR to BG, levels, DE in Nik Efex at 4% and USM to JPEG at 20% (anything more and feathers looked crunchy)
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[shane shacaluga]

The exposure on this one is just right IMO

Bird looks great and yellow on black contrast is great. BG is quite dramatic and really like that yellow tinge on the beak

f9 was a good choice too

TFS

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

The bird is excellent, but the overall image is really improved by the ragweed in the bg which ties the image together.

The exposure is right on. I do agree about the sharpening, he is right on the verge of going 'crunchy'.

How come he wasn't hanging around when we went through Ingonish:S3: But, with the fog, wouldn't have seen him anyway!

Something to look forward to on a return trip.

Cheers

Randy

[vishaljadhav]

Impressive looking bird and that HA makes it special
I love the IQ and the f9 really brings out all the details on the bird, i love the light and the nice looking BG
Sharpening looks spot on to me here,
We have a few of these in India and i still to get to see them all, just seen a pair flying by thats my only glimpse and they are beautiful

[Joe Senzatimore]

Spot on exposure and fine detail along with a beautiful BG make this work. Great color as well.

[Diane Miller]

Beautifully captured bird and I love the color-coordinated BG -- prettiest ragweed I've seen in a long time!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very dramatic BG which works great with the bird colours. A very fine species for sure and with a nice pose. Light is nice and HA is perfect, I agree that more sharpenning would have hurt the IQ, so it´s fine as is.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, lots of colours and detail to look at on this species, and I feel you have exposed him perfectly. I like the thin perch, and the OOF foliage in the BG works nicely with the colours of the bird. Well captured.

[Arthur Morris]

Bird, BKGR, and sharpening all look fine to me.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome species that I haven't had the chance at photographing for a few years now. Wonderful BG that plays very well with your subject. I would consider slightly lightening the darker area above the head and my personal taste would prefer the subject a tad higher in the frame...but a highly appealing image with perfect techs and processing.

[PhilCook]

Nice one Gail especially with complimentary backdrop, sharp as is, no need for any further sharpening imo, catch-light is good, but it looks a bit too central maybe

[MohsenVahedipour]

Killer pose, IQ & BG. Very well exposed. TFS

[Girish Prahalad]

superb image! lovey comp, details, perch & BG.

[Shawn Zierman]

Awesome background, and I love the overall color scheme going on between the subject and the bg. I dig the worn plumage! More often than not, this bird is usually shown in a wintery setting/fresher plumage...this is refreshingly different. Sharpness and exposure look spot on. The perch is nicely sized but is otherwise uninspiring imo, and something with a bit more visual complexity is worth striving for imo...

[gail bisson]

Awesome background, and I love the overall color scheme going on between the subject and the bg. I dig the worn plumage! More often than not, this bird is usually shown in a wintery setting/fresher plumage...this is refreshingly different. Sharpness and exposure look spot on. The perch is nicely sized but is otherwise uninspiring imo, and something with a bit more visual complexity is worth striving for imo...
I agree 100% Shawn but they would not land on my nice setup perch...sigh,
Gail

[Matthew Studebaker]

great background for this highly sought after species

[David Salem]

Very cool Gail. Love the complementary BG and the bird looks great with a perfect profile pose and HA. Killer details and exposure too. This one came together nicely and its one of my faves from you. Well done