Australia's smallest bird

[Charlie Schwencke]

Was a great spring day today so went for a little walk down to one of the wind breaks to see what I could find. Was not much around but found a little family group that let me get close.

The Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) is Australia's smallest bird at approximately 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long

Name:Webbill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
Location:Woodstock,Victoria, 07/09/13
Gear: Pentax K-30 and Sigma 150-500mm @ F7.1 1/400 ISO800,500mm.
PP:ACR/CS5, shadows, Levels, resize and sharpen for web.

All comments welcome.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

My first critique, and I'm just back from 3 days of local judging by 5 avian judges so I'm chalk full of tips... Lol

i really like this image.

love the bird itself and the fact that he isn't in perfect form, I love the tail position.

im still learning as to what is appropriate in the eyes of wildlife, birds especially.

i like the little glint in the eye but was told on an image of mine that they should usually be removed.

what I'm not liking about this image, really only one thing....

the stick bare of leaves on the center left, vertical with off shoots, looks a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree ish.

i would either get rid of it all together or blur it more, it is somewhat distracting from the bird and composition.

the rest of the actual foliage, the green, I like.

very nice

[Raymond Lee]

Great capture! Nice details! The bird is nicely placed within the frame. I also find the blurred twig left of the center is a bit distracting. Ideally, it would be nice to have a better head angle. Also I find the bird and the perch is a bit dark, may be a bit of tweaking in the highlights/shadow setting can add a bit more brightness.

[Daniel Cadieux]

IQ and comp are good. I agree the HA could be better...actually the whole body angle could be better IMO (more profile). Very nice perch and appealing BG colour. Some fill-flash would have awesome to light up the subject and branches against that bright BG as they seem dark. I too would remove the bare twigs at left, but definitely keep the catchlight in there.

[Marina Scarr]

I think this is a fun pose, and you actually see just enough of the bird. I do with the bird had been just a little higher on the perch in the clear a little more, but unfortunately we can't control where the bird lands. This is quite artistic and the fact that you kept your bird small in the frame helps to show off his diminutive size.