I had to clone out the tip of the cattail which crossed the open beak.
There was no room for moving around since it was taken from a boardwalk.
This bird is fairly secretive, but comes out early morning and late afternoon to sing.
Thanks for looking.
Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 500 f4.0 L IS Canon 1.4
ISO 400
Manual Exposure
f 6.3
1/1000 sec
Fill flash did not fire.
Karl, loved the pose, perch, BG and comp. Beautifully neat well balanced image. Thx for sharing.
05-24-2010, 01:00 PM
Dumay de Boulle
Looks like our Rufous Naped Lark, It also stands proudly singing for long periods of time. Awesome BG and good detail.
05-24-2010, 01:04 PM
Stu Bowie
Your choice of comp works well, and this guy is in full song. Well captured Karl
05-24-2010, 02:30 PM
Ed Schneider
Love the comp, pose, action, and perch. The whites could be toned down IMO, but I tend to like them subdued more than others here;) One of my fave wintering sparrows here in Tn.
05-24-2010, 02:52 PM
Matt Vosniak
Excellent shot Karl. Great bg and perch. With his head thrown back, crown up, and mouth at full gape it looks like this fella was giving it his all!!!
05-24-2010, 03:34 PM
Jim Fenton
Cool pose and the singing posture works great.
Excellent BG.
Looks as though it could use a hair more sharpening and I'd be tempted to tone down the cat tail fluff just a tad.
05-24-2010, 07:35 PM
Arthur Morris
Cool singing pose. As above. Plus, the bird is angled slightly away; this hurts the image... I think that the whole thing could go a bit darker. And yes to a bit more sharpening esp. the face.
05-25-2010, 08:37 AM
Daniel Cadieux
Good advice and suggestions. I also agree with the positives. I can only add that I would lose the shadow from the tip of the cattail...I'm positively sure no one would remark that there should have be one there if it was gone.