White-breasted Nuthatch

[Gus Hallgren]

Spent a stormy 4 days at Madera Kubo B&B, Madera Canyon, AZ last week and in between when it was cloudy, but dry, photographed this WB Nuthatch with his head up for a change.

Gus

Minimal crop about 2% around the edges. Olympus E-3, Zuik0 70-300 @ 600 HH,
AP: F/5.6, 1/250s, ISO 400, 0.00eV, AWB. Fairly strong Fill Flash TTL +1.0 ev

[Julie Kenward]

Gus, the bird looks very nice. His HA isn't perfect but it does have personality and you got a nice catchlight from the flash bounce.

I kind of like the twigs throughout the image as they offer a "frame" for the bird but I do find myself wishing those two on the left side were more in focus and the one directly behind him was missing.

I think this might be the first time I've seen one of these right side up! I always get them at the feeders hanging upside down in search of the perfect nut!

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Jules

Thanks for your comments. I like to keep things as they are, but still a bit adventurous, and this is an art forum?:cool: so seeing I had a mo, I went a bit crazy :2eyes2:, or maybe just showing my 86 going on 16 ;)

Gus

[Lance Peters]

Hi Gus - repost does improve with the cleaner BG - some artifacts present from the cloning still.
I find the head area a tad bright - could just be my personal tastes though.
As mentioned HA is a little off - but can live with it.

Cute bird.
Keep em coming :)

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Lance:

Thanks for your comments and highly regarded personal opinions. BTW, there are no cloning artifacts as I don't use the clone tool and clean up the background with quick mask as it is, IMHO the best tool to use without replacing the complete background.

Keep smiling

Gus