Upside Down ~ Goldfinch On Thistle

[Jim Fenton]

This bird tonight simply liked feeding in an upside down posture and was busy as could be. After 15 minutes of crouching down to get a good angle, he finally looked up for a split second and I managed a couple of frames in beautiful light. OOF background is grasses in the marsh about 50 yeards behind the subject.

Nikon D300, 500 VR, TC14EII, ISO 800, F10, 1/400, UniWB, CW Metering, -0.3 EV compensation

[Lorant Voros]

Very nice pose with open beak.... Like the perch as well, the BG, nice light. Congrats.

[Ben Egbert]

Great shot. I love the pose, background and perch.

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Jim
Interesting/unusal pose on a great perch with a very pleasing BKGD
Exposure and focus/sharpness look fine

Nothing i'd add or change - - nicely done
Peter

[Graham Smith.]

Jim, this is fantastic!
Beautiful BG, great detail, and the yellows look perfect.
The only thing I would've like more, is if that brown (dead?) thistle were not there.

[Jim Fenton]

I kinda like the progression of the thistles from spent to still blooming...but then not everyone agrees with showing things the way the really are :)

[Graham Smith.]

Jim,
That's an interesting view on it...I hadn't thought of it that way. Just to clarify though, I wasn't saying I'd remove it, but instead that I'd rather it wasn't there. There is a big difference. I do agree with showing things the way ther really are :)
Either way, it's a beautiful shot.

[Joe Senzatimore]

The comp. really makes this one a winner. Fantastic.

[Rohan Kamath]

i just loved the composition of this one... the lovely light, angle and exposure are all great...

[Marina Scarr]

Jim:

This is an outstanding picture! Love the composition and progression of vegetation. The only thing I would do is remove the small highlight from the bird's beak. Thanks for sharing.

Marina

[Leo Berzins]

A wonderful composition, Jim.
I like the pose, lighting and background and the DOF to keep all of the thistles sharp (pardon the pun ;)).

[Harshad Barve]

this is lovely shot , I loved the pose , BG , colors and lighting
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Loved the upside down pose, Great BG and a very beautiful perch.. congrats...

[allanrube]

Very nice shot Jim. The branch, pose, and bg are excellent. Did you sharpen the head a bit? I ask because the branch and the head seem in sharper focus than the body.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful perch,bg....singing pose!!!

[Jim Fenton]

Allan.....

I did no additional sharpening on the head with the exception of the eye.

I think it's a simple matter of DOF.....I was as at minimum focus distance and perhaps I should have focused on the body rather than the head as it may have gotten more withing the thin DOF? It was breezy and the bird was moving around for the couple of frames that I got so I basically locked focus before this frame and laid off the focus and just shot when it was time.

[Matt Vosniak]

Great pose and perch Jim. The upside down look is great. Getting the smooth bg is a nice touch as well. Well done.