Marsh Wren

[Ilija Dukovski]

I got some uneven side light and shadow, reed in front of the bird and blurred beak.
Other than that I like it:)
Could not use flash to eliminate shadow since the birds reacted too much to it, no wonder, it is breeding season.
Got some baby photos too, will post later.

CC appreciated.

Nikon D80, Nikkor 300mm AF-S +TC1.4 f/5.6 1/640
Matrix AP as metered, ISO400

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Not much you could do with the OOF reed, but the bird is nicely positioned in the frame. I like it lots. Nice to see the open bill. What do you think about sharpening the head a little more?

[Ilija Dukovski]

Not much you could do with the OOF reed, but the bird is nicely positioned in the frame. I like it lots. Nice to see the open bill. What do you think about sharpening the head a little more?
Thanks Akos,

I could not sharpen anymore since I started getting too bright/burned pixels in the eye area, I had to back up with it. If you know better way to do it please let me know.

Hey where's the guitar:)

[Ed Cordes]

Now this is a tough image to create. I would wish for more sharpness on the beak's point. and the tail gets lost in the shallow DOF. However if you had more DOF the reeds would be too sharp and too distracting. So, I like it as presented, except that I would consider toning down the brown FG reed - or painting it green.

[Fabs Forns]

I love as presented, Ilija, the way the bird is popping out of the reeds anad the OOF green partly covering the feet makes the image for me.

[Brian Barcelos]

I agree with Fabs here. The open mouth is a big plus. This is what I see when I walk around the local marsh, almost impossible to get these guys out from in between the reeds. Congrats

Brian

[Leo Berzins]

Not much to add to your self critique regarding technical issues.
That said, I think it's a lovely image with plenty of detail where it matters most and the bird looks perfectly at home in its habitat.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Noit and easy species. Nice pose, and ambient, I agree with your selfcritique but I also like it.
Congratulations.

[David Fletcher]

This is very nice Ilija and agree with others. Would be very happy to have this. Feeling Akos has some merit in the sharpening, I tried something as this image well worth it and do-able. (It isn't an exercise in perfect sharpening, just a quick look to see what can possibly be done, but I do think you have a cracker... so many permutations on sharpening anyway, it is a bit of "winging it on my part" :) ). Opened up a new layer and set Normal to Luminosity. three sweeps of usm at 50%, 0.3 & 1..... decided not quite there, so went for smart sharpen on top! 120% & 1, lens blur then reduced opacity to feels it looking about right). flatten. Not designed to be an answer, but to show potential as was being quick, so haven't spent as much time as should re artifacts etc, but there is potential to enhance and the whites hold. Hope you like.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you like it regardless of the problems I mentioned.
David, thanks for the repost, it really look better sharpened, I think I understand what you did.
Smart way to save the white pixels from burning by doing a luminosity layer. I'll try it next time.
Thanks a lot!

[David Fletcher]

You're very welcome Ilija. Tricky thing about sharpening, is that we can get to the destination by so many different methods. I've learned to be very flexible and open minded as what may work for one file, doesn't for another. Cheers, Dave