Pine Grosbeak

[Raymond Lee]

The photo was taken a couple weeks ago when the Pine Grosbeaks arrived at William Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Canon EOS 7D | Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS + Kenko 1.4x Teleplus PRO 300 DGX + Canon Extender EF 1.4x II
Manual mode, 1/640 sec., f/7.1, ISO 640, E-TTL Flash @ -1
The branch and some berries above the bird were cloned out. I also cloned up the catchlights (not sure if that's a proper term) on the berries.

All C&Cs are welcome!

Thanks and have a great weekend!
Raymond

[Randy Stout]

Raymond:

I like this one a lot, vibrant colors, feeding activity,well exposed, very sharp. Like the drips on some of the berries.

Because of the angle of the bird, could see a bit of a crop off the left.

Pretty good fill with the flash. It does look flashed, but fairly subtle, which is good!

Well done!

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

This is a very pleasing image. Not at all what I expected from looking at the thumbnail. Details in the bird are terrific, and I am loving the environment. The dark spot on the left of the frame is quite prominent. I just tried a crop from the left eliminating most of the dark spot and a little off of the top. I think you might like it.

[Shawn Zierman]

I enjoy the light quality here, and the great scene. The apples are
in fine condition and I like how the color and pattern repeats in the
background. The dark shadow in the upper left side of the image
immediately caught my eye too. I agree with the crop suggestions
already offered.

[gail bisson]

Hi Raymond,
I love the bright, happy colors in this image.
Another vote for cropping off the left.
IQ is excellent as well.
Very nice image,
Gail

[Raymond Lee]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I wouldn't have noticed that dark spot during editing until everyone pointed it out after my posting. However, I felt cropping the left would put the bird too much to the center, and I want to leave the top, bottom, and right sides the way they are. After some cloning/content-ware fill, here's the resulting image:



Thanks,
Raymond

[Jack Breakfast]

So juicy, so lovely! Excellent advice RE cropping; the repost is very good indeed!

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
I really like the perch, great pose, excellent details, and I really like the water dripping from some of the berries.
Great repost.
Well done.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Raymond, a really excelletn shot this one. The thumbnail does not do justice. Pleasantly surprised when I saw the large size.

Good flash work. The in focus and out of focus berries make it quite special. Very very good call on the f-stop.