Bassian Thrush

[Dejan Stojanovic]

Hi all,
this thrush was on a wooded track on a cloudy day, foraging in the litter.
Eos 5D, f 5.6, ISO 100, 1/50 sec, 400mm, partly cropped to move bird into the corner.
its not as sharp as i'd like, and i'm not sure wether or not the grasses detract or add to the photo.
Comments welcome.
-Dhttp://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt15/DejanStojanovic/bassianthrush2.jpg

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find, angle and eye contact. I would crop it tighter and sharpen the bird more. The foliage shows how well-camouflaged they are. I would have gone to ISO 200 or 400 for higher shutter speed. Keep them coming!

[Dejan Stojanovic]

Thanks Axel- i like what you did there. that sedge in the BG left of the bill is kind of distracting to me, but i guess there is no way around it with the birds position in the photo.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks Axel- i like what you did there. that sedge in the BG left of the bill is kind of distracting to me, but i guess there is no way around it with the birds position in the photo.

You could clone it out but that would be some work. You could have moved a bit to your left if that was an option.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Not bad Dejan, especially how hard it is to photograph this species for a start. Other than Axel's thoughts, a slight CCW rotation would help - I am only saying as it appears to be tilted. Maybe not?

[Dejan Stojanovic]

the track had kind of raised edges and the thrush was sitting right on the edge of the track- i think that may account for the wierd angle of the ground. i can see what you mean though.

[Juan Aragonés]

I do like the original crop. In my opinion, the strongest point of this image is the blending of the bird in the ground. Neat eye contact but I am tempted to add a litle touch of light to the eye and another round of USM to the bird. I like it a lot!

[Dejan Stojanovic]

thanks Juan! part of why i left the crop so wide in the first post was that i liked how cryptic the bird was, and thought that the annoying sedge was less disruptive when it became part of the habitat, rather than focussing so closely on it.
thanks for all the feedback. this bird was pretty challenging to photograph- it was walking ahead of me on this track and rarely paused- it was the fastest belly crawling i've ever done :)