European Dipper

[christopher galeski]

Taken yesterday on my local river,the lighting was not the best early morning,hence the high ISO,cannon 500mm IS L EXT,700MM FL,TRIPOD,7D,ISO 1250,F5.6,1400S,CROPPED,SHARPENED,some denoise in BG,lightened a tad.comments good or bad.Thankyou.

[gail bisson]

A bird I have yet to see in real life.
I like the low POV and the rock with the vegetation on it and the water running over it.
As you say, the light wasn't your friend. You did fairly well in controlling the noise considering it is the 7D. Hard to expose for as I imagine you wanted to protect the white breast yet expose as far to the right as possible to avoid the noise in the blacks.
My biggest bugaboo about this shot is the pose- too much butt for me. I wish he had been more parallel to the sensor and you.
Gail

[hennieloots]

Hi Christopher - I Like the low angle and setting with the running water. IMO the focus point is off, the water just in front of the bird seems sharper than the subject and pulls the attention away. The pose discussed already; I agree. An ISO above 800, at most 1200, on the 7D really makes it difficult to PP and impacts on the sharpness. I like the way you managed to protect the whites on the breast feathers.
Regards
Hennie

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the bubbling brook, and although I do like flat light it was indeed not to your advantage here. Although I am very comfortable using ISO 1600 on the 7D (but not if I need to lighten in post) I do feel you had enough SS to reduce it down to 800 or a pinch lower depending on your long lens technique. Appealing bird though...

[christopher galeski]

Thanks for looking and your comments,Daniel,after reading your comments,I looked at what I put down for shutter speed,and I have missed the stroke,it should be 1/400S,thanks.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think it's a very pleasant image of a dipper, the detail is good as are the colours. I also like the natural setting.