Magpie (Pica pica)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Image captured in my back garden and taken from my garden hide.

Olympus : E-M1X
Focal Length : 100.0mm
Focal length in 35 mm film : 200.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO Sensitivity : 1600
Exposure compensation : 0.0 EV
Shutter : 1/3200 sec
Aperture : F3.2

ACR/PSCC

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... good catch at your pond in general .
I do like the overall color and tones in the image .
The behavior you captured is good too ... just the lifted wing is not doing it for me and kills overall good impression for me .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon ... good catch at your pond in general .
I do like the overall color and tones in the image .
The behavior you captured is good too ... just the lifted wing is not doing it for me and kills overall good impression for me .

TFS Andreas

..thanks Andreas.... but that is what makes it different, that's why I posted it!

[Andreas Liedmann]

I thought so ....

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, I like it, the behavioural aspect is nice and I too think the wing adds another dimension. PP looks better and the control of the whites to blacks is good. Darkening the FG IMHO helps and reduces the light patch on the LHS. The crop I'm not a lover of, too much above and think going Landscape would have been a better choice, I feel you could have quickly rotated the camera as they don't fly off too quickly, especially if they are thirsty. The open bill in the water definitely is a plus, but I would have done some gardening and lost what looks like a peanut floating in the jaws.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon, I like it, the behavioural aspect is nice and I too think the wing adds another dimension. PP looks better and the control of the whites to blacks is good. Darkening the FG IMHO helps and reduces the light patch on the LHS. The crop I'm not a lover of, too much above and think going Landscape would have been a better choice, I feel you could have quickly rotated the camera as they don't fly off too quickly, especially if they are thirsty. The open bill in the water definitely is a plus, but I would have done some gardening and lost what looks like a peanut floating in the jaws.

TFS
Steve

Steve thanks, glad you liked it, I have modified the set up, there was insufficient space (width) on this one so I will be taking more in due course. The object the magpie was retrieving was in fact a small acorn - that is why I left it there. I placed a few peanut previously to get the magpies and jays coming down, then once they were cleared a I put a few acorns around, the magpie had picked this one up and then dropped it, so it was trying again to pick it up. (See the width of it's gape).

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Jon, just trying to be positive so in your refining over the coming months/weeks you can tweak thinks to getting that 'ideal :S3:' frame. At this size I might still be tempted to remove it unless you crop/shoot tight in. Yes the gape is huge, but look at what they search for.

Might be worth dropping GE an email to see if any places become available in the coming months, I think he knows AR hence my suggestion.

[Dorian Anderson]

I agree with Steve's crop assessment; the top of the frame feels a bit neglected/empty as is. I'd also like to see ether a higher angle to get more of the bird's reflection or a lower angle to
get more extreme and artistic bokeh. You're kinda caught midway here. Magpies are such awesome birds. Raised wings looks like he's trying to keep his balance.