Chestnut-crowned Babbler

[Dean Ingwersen]

Hi all,

Image of this Chestnut-crowned Babbler captured in mallee habitat in South Australia late last year. Comments appreciated.

Cheers, Dean

20D, 500mm L + 1.4 TC, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/200, AV @ 0
PS CS2 - crop for comp, levels, curves, sat, noise red on BG, slight usm of bird

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool-looking bird, I don't think I have seen this species before. I like the soft light, details and BG and would clone out the two branches at the bottom. Thanks for sharing!

[john crookes]

Neat looking critter and a nice bg

I would try and do a little more sharpen around the face as it appears to me that the feet are the sharpest part of the picture

[Ramon M. Casares]

Axel said it for me, lovely shot, BG light, exposure and detail are great but I would also clone those two branches at the bottom. Congratulations! Funny looking bird!

[Jon Thornton]

I'm reluctant to criticise this image because I know how tough this species is to photograph. Having said this however, I do think the head is a little bit out of focus compared to the feet.

Focus aside, the tones are great, the background is clean and the pose is good. Nice shot.

[John Chardine]

Love the warm, brown tones including the very complementary BG in this image Dean. Comp is very pleasing and the RH OOF branch balances the image. Would like to see the LH OOF branch disappear.

[Simon Bennett]

Good pose and exposure control - shows the chestnut crown really well.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice looking bird. Colors of the image blend together nicely. I don't mind the OOF branches although I might try a version with the lower left one gone.

[Dean Ingwersen]

Thanks for all the comments. Attached is repost with OOF branches removed and another round of sharpening on the head...definite improvements.

cheers, Dean

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great clean-up job...the repost looks awesome! A good example of how it doesn't take much to push an image to the next level :-)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The repost is a major improvement!

[Mark Schmitt]

All of the salient points have been made; the re-post looks perfect. So I'll only add that the bird is a great speciment. Have not seen many of these posted before. 20D did a good jot. Only goes to show that in the right hands a camera can deliver good results if the characteristics of the camera are well understood and used to their best.

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

No question, the repost works even better. I must say a big thanks for sharing this image with community. Birds out of NA and EU is always warmly welcomed. Really seldom presented species.

Szimi

[Dean Ingwersen]

Great clean-up job...the repost looks awesome! A good example of how it doesn't take much to push an image to the next level :-)

Yep, another example of my laziness setting me back!:o;) Lesson learnt (I hope!).

Thanks again to everyone for great comments.

[Jon Thornton]

The repost looks much better.

[Gerard Satherley]

Wonder image Dean. I really like the earthy tones, the repost is much better.

Gerard

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Your repost poops over that original Dean. What a cool species. Thanks for sharing. :)