Black-throated Sparrow

[Kurt Bowman]

It was a bit gusty when I took this which explains the head feathers. One I found I never processed. If you're wondering about my SS, I try to shoot a lot of birds leaving the perch so I am trying to be ready for the action.
Canon 1DXM2
Canon 600mm f/4
1/5000 at f/8
ISO 1600

[Randy Stout]

Kurt:

Nice look back pose, well exposed, interesting perch. Soft background with some subtle color variations nice.

Just to see, I might try a version with the nub at the bottom left removed. I have mixed feelings about. The mass there helps balance the bird a bit, but it is bright enough that it does draw my eye. Perhaps just tone down the brightness and contrast a bit and see what you think.

Cheers

Randy

[dankearl]

Excellent pose, I might do a 4 X 5 crop, some off top and bottom.

[Jay Ing]

Very nice Kurt. I agree with Randy - maybe tone down the nub of wood to the left so that it pulls the eye less... but very nice with our without mods.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Kurt ... nice bird and posing .
Very clean image design ... at times I do find this kinda shot too sterile , if you know what I mean .
Tones and colors are looking good ...
I do see some shortcomings on the masking front and the sharpness/ detail does look a bit " off" to me .
The feather detail does look somehow very coarse and not defined ???!! Any idea why ??

TFS Andreas

[Dorian Anderson]

Kurt - I agree with Andreas about the feather detail; the whole bird looks a bit crunchy to me. The detail is there, so that's good. Pose isn't as engaging as your past posts, and I think the bird needs
more room all around, but particularly at left. Light starting to get steep.....

[Brian Sump]

Kurt, I love your posts because we see birds that we don't often view here, or anywhere I frequent.

Wonderful pose. I wonder if cropping above the little nub at bottom and widening just a bit wouldn't prove more pleasing.

I, too, feel like this lacks some of the critical detail we're used to with you. Not sure if it's a crop issue or what. Doesn't really look 'crunchy' so to speak to me, just lacks a little fine detail. Also, might be some brushing halo on the right edge of the perch or something?

None-the-less, many great aspects on this one.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

This is one species I tried to photography during my last trip and was unsuccessful.
I agree with the other comments on the details of the bird.
Was this taken in Ash Canyon and what time did you take this image, was the light a bit harsh ?

TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

nice looks back pose, great light, the image looks to have heavy compression and thus lacking in crispness. there is some evidence of a clone job around the perch a

TFS

[John Mack]

Perfect look back pose here. Killer background.

[Kurt Bowman]

nice looks back pose, great light, the image looks to have heavy compression and thus lacking in crispness. there is some evidence of a clone job around the perch a

TFS

I didn’t clone anything

[Arthur Morris]

Sufficient d-o-f for the over-the-shoulder pose, a great head turn when you needed it, and the windblown crest are all great. I'll leave the technical stuff to the rest of the gang. I like it.

with love, a

[Arthur Morris]

I didn’t clone anything

Hey Kurt. I think that Arash was looking at the long dark mark on the BKGR on the right side of the perch about 2/3 of the way up. If you see what I am talking about, check the raw file.

with love, artie