Bohemian Waxwing

[gail bisson]

Canon 1DMKIV
F 600mm II and 1.4X
ISO 800
SS 1/1000
f 6.3
95% Full frame
On beanbag shooting from car window.
PP- Small crop, levels, increased brightness by +4, NR to BG and DE at 2% and USM to JPEG o.3 pixels and 40% amount. Nothing else!Took 3 minutes to process.

3 years ago, I drove past this tree that was full of bohemian waxwings ( I did not have a camera). I have returned to this tree many times in the past 3 winters and never saw them until this week. It had been a disappointing morning shooting ducks in the harbour so I took my usual drive past this tree on the way home and hurrah-they were there!!
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Dave Leroy]

A calendar shot for sure with the lovely bg and bit of falling snow. Nice to see that you were square to the perch and had enough dof for bird as well. I like the inclusion of the bottom berry. It feels tad tight on the top but very well done.

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely image you have here
The bg works great, the snow in the bg looks good
i like the colors on the bird very nicely reproduced here, the berries add a lot to the image, so does the open mouth.
Wonderful

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Beautiful image, nice perch, nice HA, open beak adds drama! Very nicely done!

[Mike Tracy]

Nicely composed and executed. I wish it was either snowing more heavily or not at all.

[Marina Scarr]

Absolutely lovely capture, Gail. Colors and exposure are super. The BG works so nicely as a backdrop to this bird. Love the dangling berries and the little flurry Would add just a tad of room on top and maybe a little on the left to balalnce it out.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Hi Gail, lovely setting, nice pose and sharpness. I'd crop from the right and add a tad more above.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, persistence pays off. I like the diagonal perch with the hanging berries, and the colours of the waxwing blend nicely with the BG. Good to see a hint of falling snow, and I too would come in from the right - just inside the small jutting twig LRC.

Cant be easy to manouvre the 600mm inside your car.

[Karl Egressy]

Great to have one in the open against this nice background, Gail.n Beuty shot.

[gail bisson]

Thanks for the advice . In the repost I added 3% canvas on top via content fill-aware and cloned out the branch near the RHS instead of cropping in to eliminate the twig as I felt it made the image too boxy.

[Marina Scarr]

The RP kicks some major butt, Gail.

[David Salem]

Way to keep an eye open and keep checking a spot. One thing I have learned in wildlife photography is getting out there, and persistence is the only thing that pays off.
The shot is very nice and the repost looks great. Solid techs and the details are wonderful. The open mouth and the lightly falling snow makes for a very appealing scene. Nice work.

[Sandy Clyburn]

Great Job Gail! Hard work and persistence pays off! This is a classic photo of a waxwing, everything is there ,well done!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful image Gail, excellent detail and a super pose.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Such a beautiful bird and well captured. Just enough of a head turn and I like the perch with the hanging berries. OP was fine with me and I actually was wanting just a teeny room on the bottom so that berry wasnt so close to the edge.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent details, love the perch, great pose, very nice background, and nice light.

[Jon Swanson]

A great shot of one of my favorite birds!