A frosty Stonechat

[Dave Stewart]

Hi,

I am new to the forum and would like to thank you for letting me join. I am hoping to learn and improve.

I photographed this Stonechat on a frosty morning recently here in the UK. The light was poor hence it was taken at 1/500 sec f5.6 iso1250. I used the Nikon D850 and 500mm f5.6 of lens. Exposure compensation was set to +1 ev. In the UK we are in lockdown and this was taken on my daily allowed exercise walking from my house.

I was drawn to the warm tones on the bird which contrasted with the tone less frosty landscape. I know the preference here is for larger in the frame images and I did get some, but I liked ‘the bird in a habitat’ setting of this photograph. Comments and critique welcomed.

Many thanks

Dave

[Mike Poole]

Hi Dave, welcome to BPN from another locked-down Brit

Yes, you are right, we do see a large percentage of larger in frame shots on this forum, but there are a fair few smaller in frame threads, and the smaller in frame style makes a regular appearances on the monthly theme thread.

And I do have to say, from my perspective this is a lovely shot, the colours work really well against the frozen background. Good detail in him as well for the size presented. Nice flat shooting angle, well positioned bird, I like it

Mike

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dave, small in frame has worked very well here indeed and I like the choice of crop and position in frame. The Stonechat colours work perfectly in the cold snap we have recently experienced here in the UK. Not sure how much of a crop this is, but the IQ is lacking slightly, perhaps upping your SS to 1/1000 may have helped if this is almost FF on the width?

Look forward to more in the coming weeks and soon become a member.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Dave, welcome! Small in the frame works well here the bird is well exposed and the frost looks great.

[David Roach]

Well seen, planned and executed IMHO. The framing, the striking color palette difference, the sharpness right where it needs to be and the environment, both in and out of focus, all spot on... A great start and welcome aboard. TFS

ps
Looking forward to many more, please...

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Welcome to BPN, Dave. Beautifully captured small in the frame image. Like the soft pastel color quality, frost covered twigs, and your choice of crop. Nice to see the bits of frost falling knocked off by the Stonechat landing. Looking forward to more images.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[dankearl]

Nice, I like the foliage in the LHC for balance.

[Randy Stout]

Dave:

Welcome to BPN. A well done birdscape is always appreciated here. As mentioned, the warm bird colors vs. the frosty environment works well. Makes me cold just looking at it.

Cheers


Randy

[kevin Hice]

Lovely natural setting and the frosty colors with the background are fantastic. See a little noise mostly at the top and agree some loss of detail on the bird. Welcome to BPN . TFS

[Brian Sump]

Dave, welcome!

Love the attempt on this one. The contrast of the bird on the frosty habitat works very well.

Some great feedback above. For me, the brush popping up in bottom left doesn't really add. In fact, it detracts a touch. Perhaps cropping down a bit more from bottom and left, and/or cloning those blooms sticking up could help. I also could maybe see one with a 5x4 vertical, leaving a good bit of room to left. Just a suggestion.

Look forward to more...

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dave ... looks quite nice this small in the frame image , as the subject is popping out so nice .
Color and tones are looking good , just the subject could stand a bit less contrast . The detail is quite coarse in there ???!!
Framing and position of the subject is about perfect .
I can see where Brian is coming from with his thoughts about the LLC ... personally i would not change it .

Welcome to BPN

TFS Andreas

[Dave Stewart]

Thanks for the feedback, which I really value. Many thanks for taking the time to comment, much appreciated and a real help in re-working the edit of this photo. Dave

[Daniel Cadieux]

Small-in-the-frame only really works well when the habitat is appealing, and that is what you have here...very pretty setting! Good head angle. The subject's colours look great against the cool wintry setting...having said this, I do think the blacks could go a touch deeper in the face area. I love the hoar frost!

Welcome to BPN Dave, I am happy to see you step right in. Looking forward to more!

[Randy Stout]

Dave:

A quick riff on your image incorporating Daniel's comment. The original looked almost like the bird was frosted, which was interesting, but a bit more contrast on the bird does make it pop a bit more. Simply and artistic choice. BPN is full of different styles and interpretations, which is good. Very easy to get stuck in one style.

Cheers

Randy