Above the Feeders

[Julie Kenward]

I've had several bird feeders in my yard for the past couple of years and now I've finally added a bird hotel (six roosting pockets, a feeder and a birdbath) and this limb - slung between two of the shepherd's hooks that hold some of my feeders. The birds seem to appreciate this additional perch as it gives them somewhere to hang out as they wait for a place at one of the feeders to open up.

By the way, the reason the BG is this color is because of all the yellow and brown leaves that are lying on the ground right now. Gotta love autumn...

Canon 40D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
f6.3 @ 1/320th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering, mid-morning light
Tweaked in Viveza and CS4, small crop.

[Aidan Briggs]

Hi Jules, nice soft light, exposure, and sharpness. The perch is a bit big for the bird. I also might crop frpm the left so that the lower cut-off branch wouldn't appear cut-off. I bit less of a head turn would be preferable for this look-back pose as well. This image does have a lot of potential.

Looking forward to more. I have to start posting again in the Macro Forum!!

[Michael Zajac]

Hi Julie, Your color tones in the BG are gorgeous. I like the pose, but do agree the head turn is just a bit too much. Very nice details and exposure-I'd crop a bit off the top if it were mine. The perch is a bit large for the bird, but I'd keep the fork, it adds interest.

[Glenda Simmons]

The head angle looks fine to me, and I'm sure your birds will appreciate any perch they can find, in waiting they turn for your feeders. The Goldfinchs have not arrived in my yard, yet...hopefully soon! Thanks for sharing this little songbird.

[Harshad Barve]

if IQ withdtands I may go for tighter crop and bird can take sharpening here
but lovely pose , killer BG and perch looks good to my eyes
TFS

[Art Kornienko]

Hi Julie, as mentioned, the perch seems a little large for the size of the bird, also seems a bit soft to me.

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks everyone...I'll keep looking for a smaller size branch to land on the ground but this one will have to do for now. It also looks soft to me - I'm always afraid of overdoing the sharpening so I'll take another look at it. Thanks!

[Ben Egbert]

I like this a lot, even though the perch is too big. Heck, I had not even thought about chosing a perch for size until I read about it yesterday in Arties CD.

Nice background.