Stonechat

[Jonathan Ashton]

Canon 7D Canon 500mm f4 L IS &1.4TC1, tripod ISO 400 1/1000 sec f5.6
I had to rescue this image, I did not notice that as I followed this little bird I must have knocked the dial from AV to manual,(an all too frequent incident - I have now put insulation tape on the control dial) having said that I am fairly pleased with the result. I would have given it perhaps another 1/2 stop exposure; the light was so oblique there were already blinkies in the highlights, so perhaps the exposure wasn't too bad after all.
I applied NR to the background and lifted the dark plumage using a reverse curve.
All comments welcome.

[jack williamson]

This is very high quality Jonathan but it seems a bit dark. Great pose and ha and I like that perch. The bg is real good.

Jack

[dankearl]

It is moody and a bit dark, but very attractive colors and A nice interesting perch.

[gail bisson]

I like the dark moody feel to this. I would lighten the eye and face slightly. Very nice and I like the delicate perch. This would look nice as a vertical as well,
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

you had a good perch and a nice pose but the light angle was not great leaving most of the bird in shade... if possible try to put the sun behind you for better results

[Jack Breakfast]

To my taste, the light here is terrific, and I think the moodiness sets this apart from many of the perfectly-lit photos I see...the bird is dark but the eye pops nicely. To me, this is a very appealing look. The only thing I'd suggest is to crop a little bit off the right side so as to lose the vertical whitish strip in the lower right, some distracting OOF foliage or whatever it was?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the feedback, I agree if the light had been behind me it would have been more evenly lit but I liked the moody scene. The shot was taken from a path and the bird was in a field on the other side of the fence so unfortunately it was impossible to get the sun behind him - it is only possible really around first light. I did lighten the eye and the dark plumage but this was about as far as I could go without introducing further artefact. I will have a look at a portrait version.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, The more I look at this, the more exposed it becomes :w3 The darker plumage is not blocked, and the white on the throat is fine. I like the angled pose, thin perch, and another liking the darker BG. In landscape format, I would move the Chat to the left a touch more, and as Gail mentioned, a vertical would work just as well with this pose.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon, The more I look at this, the more exposed it becomes :w3 The darker plumage is not blocked, and the white on the throat is fine. I like the angled pose, thin perch, and another liking the darker BG. In landscape format, I would move the Chat to the left a touch more, and as Gail mentioned, a vertical would work just as well with this pose.

Glad you liked it Stu, I processed the image in late afternoon and the ambient room light was fairly dull; I think viewing light ambience makes a big difference to brilliance and contrast. I have constructed a simple hood for the screen - made it from black mounting board, this also helps maintain good viewing conditions..