Song SParrow - First Post

[Grant Eldridge]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a long time lurker and admirer of the incredible images posted on BPN. I decided to take the plunge and post my first image. Subject is nothing exotic but I really liked the perch and background. I cloned out two bright green leaves in the bottom left that were competing for attention as well as selectively sharpened the eye (too much?). Minor reduction in overall exposure and added a touch of contrast as well. Not sure if I should add a bit more color saturation or not.

D300 with Nikkor 600mm F4: ISO 640 at f5.6 1/100sec
The woods were fairly dark hense the slow shutter speed. The subject was very close so I upped the f stop to give a bit more DOF.

Be gentle ;)
Grant Eldridge

[Alfred Forns]

Big Warm Welcome Grant !!! Glad you took the leap !!!

Biggest suggestion I have is the slow shutter speed !! Tough to make it razor sharp at 1/100 With your D300 would safely go up to 800 if needed and worry about any noise later.

I like the pose, well exposed and did come up with a clean bg. When you need to choose shutter speed or dof might go for the speed. Place the AF point on the eye a let it rip. If you look closely the shoulder feathers might be a little sharper than the eye? You did real well holding steady !!! Fine image and look forward to many more !!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Grant - a big warm welcome to BPN - Nice first post and a fine lens you have there. Agree with ALS fine critique - you did do well with the slow shutter speed.
Another option would of been some fill flash.

Like the pose and the composition - for my personal tastes I wouldnt mind seeing the bird a tad lighter.

Welcome and looking forward to seeing more :)

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Grant,
A big warm welcome to the BPN family. Your first post is very nice, I like the perch and the complimenting background color which makes your little guy pop. The head angle and eye contact are good...agree with Mr. Forns' advise...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Another big welcome to BPN. Wish that my first post was as good as yours. Agree with the techs posted already. Love the background and you have good HA and eye contact.
Congrats

[Gail Spitler]

Hi Grant I can echo Oscar's wish that my first post was as nice as yours. Wonderful bg, love the perch, composition is good. I looked at the bird for quite a while as it seemed that something wasn't quite right. Certainly the Song Sparrows on the coast are a bit different from those in the interior, but I kind think your image has a bit of a blue cast. Try pushing the white balance slider toward a slightly warmer image and see if you like the effect.
Welcome
Cheers
gail

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Lot's to like here, IMO, fist rule of bird photography like Al said - be sharp. DoF was not needed as bad as shutter speed (bird is a tad soft). Anytime your shutter speed is not close to the focal length, you are a risk (specifically when shooting thru 600MM's). You did well with a ratio of 100/600. Do what you can to help, fill flash, bump ISO, reposition, open up aperture, look for better light, a static subject like this was beneficial.

Nice picture, clean background and great perch. Great first post, well done.

[Grant Eldridge]

Thanks for the encouraging comments, handy guideline regarding the focal length and shutter speed.

Al, I'm glad you noticed the slightly sharper shoulder, I did have the focal point on the eye and this was the first thing I noticed when I got the image on a big screen. I did some tests and found the I was consistently front focusing, luckily the D300 has an AF calibration function and I think I have solved that issue. I'll give it a try over the weekend on some "live" subjects.

Gail, you were absolutely right on the white balance. It definitely makes a difference for the better.

Lots to learn and remember still....excuse to go practice I guess.

Grant

[Bill Dix]

Nicely done! I agree with the BPN's always-useful tech comments, but I'm amazed how sharp this is considering the low shutter speed. At first I wasn't sure this was a Song Sparrow, but after consulting Sibley I realize how different the Pacific Northwest variety is from the Eastern and California varieties. Learn something new every day! I also appreciate your comment about the AF calibration. I don't think this is an option on my D90, but I have often wondered if it was totally accurate. Now I will go and try a controlled test to make sure.

Bill

[Harold Davis]

big welcome to bpn!! i cant add to what has already been said, but i love the soft light on this. it's a beauty!! excellent first post!!!

[Christopher Miller]

Welcome to BPN, Grant, and great first post! Very nice details and HA.