Lincoln sparrow

thanks for looking, suggestions welcome:)
Nikon d200
600mm on tripod
TC 1.4
aperture priority
1/1000
EV .3
matrix meter
Flash backfill -2.0

2 small branches cloned out
Processed Nikon NX2
Does the bird need more sharpening?

Very nice pose and BG, Ray. The bird's eye could maybe use a little more sharpening, but other than that sharpness looks excellent.

Only thing that bothers a little is the fact that the bird is looking to the left. IMHO a look to the right would have been better, but that's a minor point. Very nice image, I like it a lot!

Hi Ray,
I wish that I could offer a simple and great improvement to your image, but it is a winner already.
So my only suggestion would be to crop a little off of the top of the image. Enough so that the space above the bird is one to two times the space below the bird.
It is nice to see that A d200 will capture such a nice image I hope to manage it myself one day. :)
Thank you,
Clive

Hi Ray...Very nice post indeed. I agree with chris about sharpening the eye just a tad more but overall the bird looks very sharp. what aperture were you at? just curious

Very nice pose and clean BG!. Like the twigs on the right and BG/perch colors. Fine image!

Ray,

Would like to see ISO and aperture to better understand exposure. That being said, you nailed this one. Eye looks perfect to me and it is tack sharp. Not sure if I would sharpen body more. But, if you do use either selective brush or High-Pass to hit edges only and avoid halos.

Crop - maybe lower in the frame, let's see what others say - well done.

Ray, I think you have done so well with all aspects of this shot, that any changes would be very minor. I like it a little better with a crop below the white mark on the branch in the URC, but that's it. I think it is a very nice shot, and difficult to improve on.

ray, the bird looks great. maybe a little more sharpening to the eye, as mentioned. but, i think this may have worked as a vertical better. the bird just doesnt seem right in the frame to me.

the more i look at, maybe you could go a little out of the box and give it a small crop from the top and left. goes against the rule, BUT! it would work. nice job.

thanks for the encouragment and advice.
My bad. I meant to include all the data.
F 5.6
ISO 400
SS 1/1000
EV +.3
Matrix meter
Flash BF -2.0
aperture priority
:)

Excellent suggestions The main one I can give is the point of focus ... seems the branch is the sharpest part of the image Would try placing the spot on the birds eye !!!

I like your composition, image and capture Ray...good points given...agree about the focus point being on the eye...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

Hi Ray - all good advice given above and minor tweaks to a nice image.
keep them coming :)

Ray,

Thanks for the exposure info. It was not a sunny day so the sunny 16 stuff was not in play, the exposure looks good and I assume the -FC was TTL.

I agree with Gus, focus point is interesting and were you using center or ring of fire. No need to respond. Nice shot, the bird looks regal and that is worth a lot IMO.