Field Sparrow

[P-A. Fortin]

Another sparrow from my day with Dan Cadieux. This one did not stick around for long and did not even sing for us. Definitely no tip for this one!| Still, my first encounter with this species so I'm glad I got a nice souvenir.

I cloned out a few twigs on the right side but I left those on the left side. For a reason I can't explain, I actually like those. And I don't feel much into the "just a perfectly clean green oof" background today.

A bit of dodging on the underparts. Noise reduction and sharpening in PS. I might have wanted to move the bird a bit up in the frame, but I did not frame it as good as I should when I shot so I don't have any more room for that.

Canon 60D, 100-400L @ 400mm, f/6.3, 1/1000, ISO 400, handheld, no flash.

[Paul Guris]

I'd probably take off a little from the top and right, but otherwise I like it. You might want to tone down the dark brown seed head to the right of the bird. I like your choice of leaving the left-hand twigs left in. It keeps the scene looking natural.

[P-A. Fortin]

I think I left it first because I felt the image would be unbalanced with the twigs on the left and... well, nothing on the right. But looking at it again a few hours later and indeed the dark brown seed head is a bit distracting.

[Paul Guris]

Ugh! I just realized that all I wrote was what I might change. I didn't mention that I really like the shot! Sorry for the lack of positive feedback. It's a hazard of commenting while I'm at work.

[P-A. Fortin]

Well you did say "otherwise I like it"

[John Chardine]

Hi P.-A.: Nice portrait of the bird and great to see a Field Sparrow (they are declining and quite rare in the Maritimes anyway). Not much you can do with the imbalance of the image other than some cloning out of the grasses on the left. I would crop differently with more room and the bottom and less room top and left.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi P-A., nice capture - love the background, exposure (although maybe a third stop less brightness), and detail. I agree with comments regarding the crop, I don't think you need so much space on the right for a perched bird. Whatever crop you decide on, I would suggest completely losing the brown seed cluster on the right as it wants to pull the eye away from the bird. By the way, the bird looks really nice. Good job.

[Bob Miller]

Hi P-A. .....I think you handled the bg nicely and the grasses left on the left was a good decision. I do think you should consider another crop and cloning out of the brown seed cluster and the green grass on the left that intersects the tail.