Why different you say? Well, over the last couple of weeks I've posted standard "bird on a stick" images that feature a simple composition made up of a subject, a perch, and a clean background. These are the photos that I strive for, but once in a while it is worth it to make the subject smaller in the frame and showing it in its' preferred habitat, where it lives. Here we get a glimpse of where the Grasshopper Sparrow likes to hang out in, a grasslands specialist.
Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/6.3, ISO 800 (histogram checked), natural light, handheld, green cast negated via Color Balance and Selective Color, distracting very dark area near tp right corner tamed via clone stamp tool, a few bright highlights in the leaves reduced via burn tool.
I like different. This has a very artistic and painterly feeling to it. I like the natural vignetting.
Almost like a blur.
I like the ying/yang of blurry bright BG and darker, sharp bird on cool stark perch. Really like the open seed pod with his foot resting on it.
I also like the singing pose but would prefer a better side view of the bird.
Gail
I like the overall feel of this and I really like images like this.
I do wish for more in focus vegetation n these types of photos, but can see by the settings that smaller f-stop
was not possible.
The bird looks nice on it's perch, I would love it if the flower on the right was in focus.
I think this works well, and I do enjoy birds in habitat images as well as the tight close ups.
Good points by folks above. I am happy that the bird itself is against a slightly more uniform area of the background.
I have mixed feeling about the large plant on the right. It is big enough, and just sharp enough, that it competes a bit with the bird. Glad he is on an interesting perch to try and balance out the visual mass of that large plant on right.
This is what I would describe as an 'in habitat' image and in my view it is much more difficult to pull this type shot off than a close shot. This is because there are more chances for the elements to be wrong. This image would be near perfect had it not been for the twig that is in front of the bird. It would have still presented a problem if you had been closer or used more FL. The pod is also just a tadd dark and overpowers the bird though this is not a major issue for me. Techs fine, and still over all, a pleasing image.
There is nothing wrong with nice habitat shots with the bird smaller in the frame. However, I am afraid this one doesn't work for me because of a few reasons: bird is too small in the frame, perch is a bit dominant and unattractive, the habitat is a bit too bright, busy and too OOF. My eyes keep going back to the bird and dominant perch.
I feel the repost maintains the habitat feel and getting rid of the right side of the frame doesn't really hurt this image.
Works beautifully for me Daniel. I like the larger amount of impressionistic, HI key, OOF habitat. Ofer's version also looks great, though I prefer the OP.
Hi Dan, I like the small in the frame subject, and good to capture a singing pose. I like how you have framed the sparrow between the two plants, but do agree the one on the right is competing with the subject.
I do like habit shots and the soft feeling of this image, but I find the large milkweed competing a bit to much with the subject for my tastes.
I was thinking a vertical crop and then saw Offers post. This is what I was visualizing and agree that it keeps the habit feeling without anything competing with the subject.
A nice shot with different possibilities depending on individual tastes....
I love habitat captures, but when I first saw this image yesterday, something about it wasn't working for me, but I couldn't articulate what it was. Not sure I can articulate my thougths now either, except that I did feel the BG was too bright. Although I find the OP to be a good capture, I think the repost takes it to another level yet maintaining the environmental feel.
I had a hunch this image would be split somewhat between yes and no and maybe The milkweed was one thing I liked about the image as it depicts the habitat this was at very well and I like the play between the bird and the pinkish flower on it...I guess I have a bias for it. Having said this, I do like the rework by Ofer alot...thanks man!
Grasshopper Sparrow - Something Different.
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The milkweed was one thing I liked about the image as it depicts the habitat this was at very well and I like the play between the bird and the pinkish flower on it...I guess I have a bias for it. Having said this, I do like the rework by Ofer alot...thanks man!
