Black and White Warbler

[Shawn Zierman]

This image was made during summer 2011, in Duluth, Minnesota. MP3 call playback was used as an attractant.
The perch is naturally occuring. SonyA300, Sigma50/500, iso400, f9, 1/640, removed three
dust sensor spots, cropped, USM. Comments and critiques welcome.
Regards,
Shawn Zierman.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Now that is maximum singing gape! Love the BG and pose. Good comp too. I do wish the extra part of the perch touching the tail was not there as it creates too much bird/perch merging IMO. I'm on the fence about the disheveled feathers...on one hand it adds interest, and on the other I'd want to go reach out and put them back in place!. Just 6 months to go before these guys come back here!!

[Hayath Mohammed]

Talk about catching one in full song :)
Nice light, color and details.

The stump looks a little too hot compared to the overall tone of the image, would consider burning that a little

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Shawn, well timed to capture the singing pose with the open beak. Well exposed on the fellow, tricky with streaks of whites and blacks, but you nailed it there. Sharpness is tops, and just love the BG. I do find the lower part of the perch on the right a touch bright. Still a fine image.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful pose and fine image of the bird. Perch needs to be toned down alot.

[Randy Stout]

Shawn:

Good comments from all above. Because the perch is rather massive and quite bright, toning it down will help keep our eye on the bird.

Great singing pose!

Cheers

Randy

[Karl Egressy]

Great colourful and smotth background. I also like the nice singing pose, Shawn. The perch looks a little hot on the right hand side.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Shawn, excellent image. a very well timed one. Light, exposure, details, BG...everything looks good.

If mine, I'd crop from bottom as the perch is big and bright...takes some attention away, IMO. might not hurt to add some at the top if you have it. With the bird looking up, might be better to have it a bit lower in the frame.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the singing pose, sharpness, details and BG. I agree with Kaustubh's crop suggestion.

[dankearl]

Beautiful calling pose.
I agree about cropping out most of the perch.
If you have some room, I think this could be nice as a Vertical.

[John Cooper]

Very well captured in full vocal mode..!! Every thing has come together here for you Shawn except the perch which appears a bit distracting for me, especially the bright portion on the RHS.

[Jon Swanson]

I love the pose, details, and BG Shawn. I agree with the thought on cropping differently so there is more on the top and less on the bottom.

[Shawn Zierman]

Thanks for the great feedback....back to the drawing board
Okay, so I reworked the crop, adding more space on top, and diminishing
the presence of the perch. I also used a layer mask to selectively tone down
the bark of the birch perch....thoughts?

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Nice singing pose! light and bird. I belive you have received very good comments above. The white on the perch has been mentioned. I would remove the two extra catch lights on the eye.