Chestnut-capped Brush-finch

[Bill Holsten]

The biggest challenge with this shot was the low light, but flash fill saved the day. The tip of the tail was outside the frame, so I borrowed a tail tip along with a bit of real estate from another shot in the sequence. Photographed at Bosque del Paz on recent workshop with Doug Brown and Greg Basco.

EOS 7D, 300mm f2.8 + 2X, ISO 1250, 1/200", f/5.6, fill flash

Comments welcomed and encouraged.

Bill

[Stu Bowie]

Good work on the tail Bill, and I like the various colours on the finch. Good to see how the finch's chest follows the curvature of the rock infront of him, and do wish he had turned his head a touch towards you.:w3

[Doug Brown]

One of my sleeper favorite birds from the trip Bill. The low light was a definite challenge, but you handled it well. Just the right amount of fill flash (remember to include that in your EXIF data). A slight head turn towards the viewer would have been nice. I would consider some additional sharpening of the bird, and I'd remove the light green vegetation above the tail feathers.

[Greg Basco]

Hi, Bill. I agree with Doug. This isn't one of the flashiest birds we have but it's really a beautiful little species, so I'm glad you were able to capture a nice image of him. Balance of flash and ambient light for the BG is right on so big congrats there. Too bad about the head turn but what can you do?

Doug, I don't know about the light moss by the tail. I walked a long way for that rock with the moss and then carried it for 15 minutes (literally) to get it to our setup area. It was heavy, and I would hate to have my effort cloned out in a few seconds :S3:

Cheers,
Greg

[Morkel Erasmus]

lovely bird and great-looking techs here Bill!

I agree with sharpening the bird some more...

How do you find the 7D performing with a 300 2.8 and 2x? did you use the new 2x?
I am looking at investing in one of the last of the old generation lenses :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very cool little bird! Love the plumage - looks like you've done it justice. Minimal habitat, but still has lush feel. I agree about HA, and I agree with Doug about the tiny bits of green peeking above the tail feathers. There is also a hint of steel-eye on the lower part of the pupil that could go.

[Bill Holsten]

lovely bird and great-looking techs here Bill!

I agree with sharpening the bird some more...

How do you find the 7D performing with a 300 2.8 and 2x? did you use the new 2x?
I am looking at investing in one of the last of the old generation lenses :)

Morkel,

Since the 7D, 300 2.8 & old style 2X is the only far-reaching setup I own, I have nothing to compare/contrast it with. My only other alternative is to use the 1.4X instead of the 2X, thus less glass but also less pixels on the bird and surely lower image quality. I do not own the new 2X. I think the weakest element in my "far-reaching" setup is the 7D, itself, as the image quality suffers in low light. I have ordered a 1D Mark IV to address that problem. I'm reluctant to get a longer primary lens, as I'm not sure I am strong enough to carry it.

Thanks to all who commented on this image. This repost removes the moss above the tail, has a somewhat sharpened bird, somewhat cleaned up rock work on left side of image and a bit more NR on the BKGRD. Daniel, I have removed the "steel-eye" from the bottom of the pupil, although that is a new term to me and I don't know what causes it. Doug, thanks for correcting the name of the bird.

Bill