To Keep with Daniel's theme

[Stan Cunningham]

Brewer's Sparrow
Canon 7D, 500 F 4, F 4.0. 1/4000, and ISO 400.
Very small crop and Proc in Nik.
Some of you may not like the shadow effects but that's why I like it as it's a bit different.
All comments greatly appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Stan:

Birds shot in dappled light often don't work well, but because the face is well illuminated here, and the trunk/perch lends itself to the dappled light, I find it effective and interesting.

Nice BG.

If mine, I would consider a sig. crop from the right, that negative space doesn't help the image, and either crop up from the bottom to eliminate the small bits of trunk at the bottom of the frame, or better yet, since the perch is so interesting, clone out that area, or some combination of those two!


I like the bones, just a little tweaking perhaps!

Cheers

Randy

[Grace Scalzo]

I love the spotlight effect on the bird's face, the vingnette, the colors, the perch, etc. Randy has a great idea regarding the crop.

[Roger Clark]

Hi Stan,

Outstanding! I agree with Randy. I would crop the right side so the bird was off center. Usually the shadows on the bird ruins such an image, but in this case, it enhances it. The approx 30 degree phase phase angle gives wonderful shading both in the tree bark and the bird's feathers and helps with the 4D effect. Very very nice. Well done. Did you have to lift the shadows on the bird? If so, also well done.

Roger

[Xavier Maessen]

Beautiful, the shadows add a very nice effect indeed. I also like the natural vignetting in this image very much. I agree with the previous comments about the cropping.

Xavier

[Stan Cunningham]

Thanks for the positive comments and some good suggestions.
I've included a repost with a crop but I still wanted to leave the vegetation above him but I did get rid of the extra on the right and below. Thanks Randy.
Roger, some times even a blind hog finds an acorn, I was lucky the early morning light lit up his face. Nik did the rest on the body but it did take some work111412. Using Viveza I use the control points and add brightness and the shadow enhancer where I thought is would help.
The vignette is partly natural as he was under a bush, but the darken edges/lighten center is a one of my favorite tools in color efex. I don't go as strong as the default setting though

[Satish Ranadive]

Sweet image. Lovely lights.

[Greg Basco]

Love the dappled light, Stan. I do think the crop is an improvement for the composition as the original was a bit centered indeed.

Cheers,
Greg

[Arthur Morris]

I do not mind the dappled light (and I usually hate it) but why put the bird in the middle of a horizontal frame for the original capture???????? I love the bird, the sharpness, the light, and the mood of the ORIG. The boxy crop loses a lot of that....

[Stan Cunningham]

Not sure I'm following you Art. Are you commenting on the recrop, that you still consider the bird in the center? Do you prefer the orig instead? I want to make sure I understand what you are suggesting.

[Arthur Morris]

Not sure I'm following you Art. Are you commenting on the recrop, that you still consider the bird in the center? Do you prefer the orig instead? I want to make sure I understand what you are suggesting.

While you were making the original image you needed to focus on the bird and then point the lens to the left to place the bird well to our right side of the frame.... In the original post the bird is actually left of center rather than well right of center where it should have been placed..... In the cropped repost the feeling of space and light and airiness is lost to the tight crop....

Great bird BTW. Many folks have been making similar compositional errors here lately; this baffles me as the basic principles are well covered in both ABP (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=16) and ABP II. (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=19)

For more on the topic see Gail Bisson's post here (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/97153).

[Stan Cunningham]

Thanks for your time Art, I know you are an awful busy guy. I try to move my focus point often and missed this one, I have my excuses why but I like your statement in the other thread, no one gives a rat's ,,,,, what's behind the bird. I recropped it as well as Stu did in the thread but it still loses the feeling of space if I had got it right. But this is how I learn to get better and I appreciate your time, and I think I have every one of your books, cds, etc, even the 7D manual. But practicing the principle's is easier read than done at times. I may have to go to the rear focus button. I'm still having a tough time finding the smaller birds and focusing if the focus point is to the left or right of center, just the way my brain works I guess. I have 4 days in Madera ahead of me in a blind and will give it my first try there. Thanks again.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Your repost makes this lovely images stand out , Stan !! Amazingly interesting perch , lovely BG , and I quite like the light here !!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for your time Art, I know you are an awful busy guy. I try to move my focus point often and missed this one, I have my excuses why but I like your statement in the other thread, no one gives a rat's ,,,,, what's behind the bird. I recropped it as well as Stu did in the thread but it still loses the feeling of space if I had got it right. But this is how I learn to get better and I appreciate your time, and I think I have every one of your books, cds, etc, even the 7D manual. But practicing the principle's is easier read than done at times. I may have to go to the rear focus button. I'm still having a tough time finding the smaller birds and focusing if the focus point is to the left or right of center, just the way my brain works I guess. I have 4 days in Madera ahead of me in a blind and will give it my first try there. Thanks again.

YAW. Rear focus is the only way to go :S3:

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great pose and colours.