A Bird in a Bush

[Richard Stern]

A Song sparrow in a bush in my back yard recently, close to some feeders.

D300, 300 f/4 AF-S + 1.4TC.ISO 400, 1/800, f/7.1.

NR and blur applied to bg. I hope the bush doesn't overwhelm the image too much, but I feel that it does add some habitat interest.

Richard

[Randy Stout]

Richard:

Sharp and well exposed. Good head angle.
The bush is very interesting, but does compete with the bird for attention.

I might consider a crop up from the bottom, and a small crop from the right. I would also tone down some of the brightest leaves, esp. the one right in front of him.

For my taste, the blur on the background is a bit much.

Some may comment on the light angle being well off to the right, but I think it still works because of the head angle.

Cheers

Randy

[Jeff Dyck]

Richard - I agree with Randy's comments - a nice pose and the image is sharp and well exposed.

I would have a look back at your post processing - it looks like the masking was a bit sloppy - some of the blur has spilled over to the beak, head and back of the bird and the leaves on the right and there is also a strange artifact in the background in front of the bird's feet. I would also consider a reverse S-curve to cut the overall contrast a bit.

[Alan Murphy]

I like the image. I also like the hint of snow.

[Charles Scheffold]

I've developed a fondness for sparrows for some reason :)

I like the composition, head angle, exposure.... unfortunately the background blur appears to have encroached upon the edges of the bird, such that they are no longer well-defined in certain places (on the top/back, near the beak). Gives something of a halo or ghostly effect.

Charles