Unexpected Guest - Female Grosbeak

[Ron E Racine]

A female Evening Grosbeak on the perch near my water fountain. I was setup at the water fountain to shoot hummingbirds and pygmy nuthatches when this Evening Grosbeak landed on my perch. My main problem was I was just too close for a bird of that size and this was the only non-composite shot I got where the whole body was in the picture. At this distance (not far from MFD) @ 840mm DOF is very thin.

Canon 5D Mk III, Canon 600 F4 IS II, Canon 1.4x Teleconverter Series III, Kenko 20mm extension tube, tripod mounted

ISO 800, f/7.1, 1/1600 on a cloudy day @ 9am. Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

PP in Lightroom. Very minor crop on top of frame, with minor adjustments to highlights/shadows/blacks.

PS - red background is an OOF Red Japanese Maple

[Daniel Cadieux]

A very visitor indeed! I like the exposure, details, inquisitive pose. Looks like you had a nice perch and background (flowering trees?)....but as you mention the main problem is the tightness in the frame. Critical sharpness seems to be near the shoulder as those feathers seem slightly sharper than the face.

[gail bisson]

Hi Ron,
I love evening grosbeaks! Too bad you were so close.
You need more room for the tail and as you say the DOF just isn't there.
Let's hope she comes back when you have less lens,
Gail

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ron, love the inquisitive pose, and I do like the detail and colours on this species, even though it is a female. I would try a few shots without the 1.4TC. :w3