Tree Swallow guarding Bluebird box.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, the Tree Swallows have won the first round of the annual "Battle of the Nest Boxes" against the bluebirds. Just out of the frame there is a nest box that had another swallow poking its head out of it. They do make great photography subjects, so although I did not spot any of the Eastern Bluebirds I did come away happy with a couple of images. I deliberately aligned myself to introduce an OOF bale of hay at left edge to give a nice yellow colour there and give the BG a more varied colouring.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @400mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/160s., f/7.1, ISO 800, +0.3 EC, natural light, handheld using the roof of my car as support. NR applied selectively to BG only. and an ugly splotch on perch cloned out.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/dancad/tn_TreeSwallow_2446-01.jpg

[Ramon M. Casares]

Excellent perch, lovely soft light, great colors and detail, pose is cute and BG is stunning, exposure is right on and textures on this image are to me the best! Congratulations!

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent exposure Daniel, especially on the blue of the head. I like the curved perch with the hint of yellow moss. What a killer BG too. Great image.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great BG, colors and placement of the subject. Congrats. :)

[Dave Leroy]

Great job on the blues Daniel and the soft white feathers. Very well done. Dave

[Grady Weed]

Lots of room to look into. Nice soft front on the bird and lots of details. Sharp, clean eye, and good exposure. You made out, even tho the bluebirds did not.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Not much for me to add. Fine technicals. I would normally comment that the scale of the perch is wrong (too big) for this bird. But, it has a lot of character, so I am OK with it.

I did look at cropping in a bit from the right, perhaps to the lowest point of the perch. I think the image works either way, more of a personal vision about what you are trying to communicate.

Cheers

Randy

[Mike Lentz]

Everythings been mentioned... The soft light is very helpful here as the whites are spot on and make this guy pop nicely against your BG.

[Graham Smith.]

Very nice shot Dan. Great BG and exposure. He looks quite comfortable sitting there. Interesting perch too. If it weren't for that little bit of BG poking through on the bottom left, I might've thought he was on a large rock (rather than wood).

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

How pretty this swallow is!

Lovely perch, great BG and wonderful PS work.

[Art Kornienko]

Love the lighting, comp and bg, sharpness/detail is very good, one of my favourites, can't find anything that would make it better (other than your name in a softer colour and smaller size), I prefer the hole on the left the way it is. Great work.

[Juan Aragonés]

What a creamy BG and quiet scene Daniel. Love the composition a lot, the perch is fantastic and exposure nailed. terrific eye. Very well done! :-)

[Rosl Roessner]

Everything is said!
Big congrats :)