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Mark Schmitt
03-22-2009, 06:36 PM
Common visitor during the winter months. There a varieties of these, though I am not an expert on differentiating amoung them: but, I think this is a West Taiga, due to the orange-yellow color of the beak.

Self critique: the crop may seem a little too square; the image has good color rendition; it may appear a little over-sharp, but very little was added (smart sharpen 1px @ 73%); the perch was origianlly a bit over-exposed so, a mask was created and promoted to a layer and curves is used to adjust the exposure and color values.

EXIF data:
Camera: Canon 30D
Lense: Canon EF 500 IS L
Mode: all manual
Metering: partial
ISO: 500
White bal: custom 5350K
Exposrue: 1/500 @ 7.1; -.33 comp.: fill flash 1/8 power

Feel free: ;)
David Roach
03-22-2009, 06:41 PM
Great HA, sharpening looks spot on and great PP on the perch!! Love the colors,details and BG!
Daniel Cadieux
03-22-2009, 07:34 PM
I like the square crop you chose. The perch is on the edge of being too thick, but still OK...besides, it is textured and weathered quite beautifully. Sharpening looks generally good, but the lores look like they may show some traces of over-sharpening. Great pose by the sparrow, and an excellent complimentary BG. Perhaps the whites on the crown could go a bit lighter?
Stephen Stephen
03-22-2009, 08:02 PM
Mark very nice head turn and BG here. I have no image as clean as this one so I'd be pleased to have it in my collection. I get these beautiful birds in my backyard most regularly in spring and fall so I hope to see some over the next month or so.
Laura Hughes
03-22-2009, 08:24 PM
I'm very fond of this view, love the plumage, crop is just fine IMO, nice work!
Mike Lentz
03-22-2009, 08:43 PM
The bird pops nicely against the BG! Nice headturn and details in feathers head to tail.
Graham Smith.
03-22-2009, 09:26 PM
Beautiful shot! I really like the grainy perch, and BG. very sharp. As Daniel indicated the lores do look a little over sharpened though (buy only very slightly).
Simon Bennett
03-23-2009, 12:33 AM
I like the pose and over-the-shoulder look.
Mark Schmitt
03-23-2009, 11:40 AM
I like the square crop you chose. The perch is on the edge of being too thick, but still OK...besides, it is textured and weathered quite beautifully. Sharpening looks generally good, but the lores look like they may show some traces of over-sharpening. Great pose by the sparrow, and an excellent complimentary BG. Perhaps the whites on the crown could go a bit lighter?

You have a good critical eye for the PP work on images. I agree the lores do look over-sharp. Perhaps should have done more selective sharpening. Thanks for the comments; helpful;)

Mark Schmitt
adrian dancy
03-23-2009, 03:14 PM
We had a white crowned sparrow in Norfolk this year...a real rarity over here in England. Birders who went to see it chucked some money into the village kitty and raised over £5000 for the local church! I never went to photograph it but if I did and I returned with an image like this I would have been very pleased.

I agree with the comment on the oversharpened lores ... but.. the general impression of the image is very good. I am OK with the crop...it's subjective anyway. Nice work Mark.