Zebra finch

[John Cooper]

The pair of wild Zebra finches, both males, perch on a Banksia cone as they wait their turn at the feeder.
Hide, EOS 7D, 100-400 L, 1/250 @ F8, ISO 200, early morning sun, tripod.

[PhilCook]

I know how timid these birds can be, almost impossible to get close to, and this is a great image, super sharp and bright light too, but not blown out. The eye clarity and catch light is excellent, can honestly say I don't think I've seen a better image of these birds before.

Not sure what to make of the leaves on the bottom, I think if it were mine I'd crop them out, but can see merit in retaining them as well.

[Frank Schauf]

Nice composition and excellent expsoure control and sharpness.

[Melissa Groo]

This is a stunner, John. Wonderful background, and love the texture, colors and detail in both the finches and the cone. Fantastic work.
Might sharpen the face of the finch on the left just a touch more.

[Andre van As]

John
Congrats on a great shot. I love the composition, clarity and relationship of the birds. The upper bird is in a dominant position so the apparent lack of sharpness in the lower bird accentuates that IMHO.
I was going to start a thread in the camera gear section about the performance of the 100-400 lens but this image seems to answer that question. Are you in general happy with this lens and how does it perform with a 1.4 or 2.0X converter?

Best regards

Andre

[Bill Jobes]

I love the colors, clarity and comp in this beautiful photograph, John.

You may consider removing the leaves, as at least to my eye, they distract from the other exceptional elements in the photo.

[Grace Scalzo]

The birds are wonderful, bg sweet, cone has lots of interest of its own. Great work!

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful birds, with great positions on both; and terrific perch. I don't personally mind the leaves. Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, great double, and colourful characters too. Comp works well, interesting perch, and everything pops well from the BG.

[Karl Egressy]

Such great looking birds and wonderful composition, John.

[David Salem]

Great shot. Exposure, light, and details are beautiful. BG and perch are great and I like the leaves also. Well done

[John Cooper]

Thank you Andre for your comments.
I've had the Canon 100-400mm L lens for about 8 years now and find it very satisfactory. Little change seen when used with the x1.4 converter but I've avoided using it with the x2.

I can, however, see the added quality in professional prime lenses such as the 500mm L. Maybe one day......!!

[dankearl]

Awesome work.
I think either more of the leaves at the bottom or maybe just crop above them would be my preference.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice like the light and great that both are sharp. would crop off the clipped leaves from the bottom

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is much more your high image standard John. Great to get both males on the banksia? pod. Very nice. Do you saturate during PP? Maybe just apply a little less, seems a tad rich.

[John Cooper]

This is much more your high image standard John. Great to get both males on the banksia? pod. Very nice. Do you saturate during PP? Maybe just apply a little less, seems a tad rich.

Good to catch up with again Akos. No, never touch saturation since PS introduced 'Vibrance' a few years ago, and always capture in RAW mode.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Cool mate! I haven't touched it either in years.... :) Good to see you mate. Go get the 500, you know you want to! :D

[Satish Ranadive]

John:
Absolutely superb image.Lovely pair,beautiful colors,great details and very interesting perch.Very nice composition too.Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[John Cooper]

Cool mate! I haven't touched it either in years.... :) Good to see you mate. Go get the 500, you know you want to! :D

The BPN site has changed somewhat sine I was last a regular visitor. The little box to the left of my last post has a red tick saying I have 3 posts in this thread - can you clarify what that actually means Akos?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Don't know John, I've only just rejoined. I have been away I guess for nearly two years. A lot has changed from what I see, including ads in the threads, where to me it looks like somehow the gear that is mentioned gets picked up and a B&H ad comes up with that.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great image. Is that a feeder? or a real plant?

[Jon Swanson]

Superb shot. Was this a set up?

[Marina Scarr]

Colors just pop in this image. Birds go so well with that terrific BG. Like the poses and the perch. Would either crop closer (and remove bottom) or go wider and add the entire leaves below.

[John Cooper]

Hi Jon, These are wild finches attracted to a perch using seed.

[John Cooper]

Hi Cheryl - this is the seed-pod (Cone) of the Banksia tree - a native to Australia.

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image John! I like the perch, poses, colours and composition.