Red-breasted Nuthatch

[Ed Vatza]

It doesn't get any more hand of man than a backyard feeder. :)

This image was made this afternoon on one of our backyard feeders. A Cooper's Hawk landed in a tree and the backyard birds either headed for cover or froze. This Nuthatch opted for the "freeze" alternative. I grabbed the camera and headed out back, got down low and made a bunch of images while he never moved. Finally the all clear must have sounded because he flew off and everything returned to normal.

Image made with my Canon 30D and 400mm f/5.6L handheld.

1/500sec at f/5.6; ISO 640; 0 EV; No Flash

Image cropped from 2336x3504 to 1617x2425

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s1/EdV_02/044_1.jpg

[Lana Hays]

Ed
A classic nuthatch pose......and on a nut feeder. Mr. Cooper does stop the action.....good time for that camera. You didn't have much light and it's a little dark. The bird isn't as sharp as I'd like and I'm wondering if the focus was on the front of the feeder. You might not have had enough DOF with f/5.6. I may have mentioned it before but you might think about setting perches up....and put up a blind as your backyard can be a goldmine of subjects and photographic experience during the winter. It would be a good time to get some flash practice in which can help on the gray days of winter.

[Spence Autry]

Great shot and great compostion. I would like to see a catch light in the eyes. Just a bit of flash would provide that as well as added a little pop to the feathers.

[Ed Vatza]

You are correct about the low light late in the day. I should have put on the flash. Heck I just got a new 580 EX II yesterday! It was just one of those things. I had the camera out, I grabbed it and went out.

We have a pretty nice backyard environment for the birds and have about 10 feeders of one sort or another out there. But I very rarely photograph out there.

I checked the focus point. It was not on the feeder. I did miss the eye but the focal point was at the front of the wing. What I should have done is used the tripod. With shutter speeds around 1/400 +/- I find my hand shake can cause me to miss my desired focal point.

Thanks to you as well, Spence. You are right, I should have gone with the flash.

[Ed Vatza]

Not sure if this is permitted. I did some additional work on the original image and am wondering if it is better in your eyes or not? I usually get myself in even more trouble when I try to do this.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s1/EdV_02/044_2.jpg

[Jim Neiger]

Hi Ed,

The others have pointed out the good and not so good aspects of this image. Your repost is an improvemnet in the bird, but not the bg. I would suggest selecting just the bird and feeder, but not the bg, then lighten it up a bit, but maybe not quite as much as you did in the repost. You went just a bit too far in the repost.