Brown Creeper On The Ground.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's not often you will see a Brown Creeper not on a tree trunk, so I was pleased when I managed to photograph it on the ground picking up a piece of suet. I had just physically cleaned the ground by sprinklin...g some fresh snow there as it likes to hang out at the bottom of the tree that is just out of the frame at left. I had found the floor too dirty, hence the bit of work. Little did I know it would come right on the ground, and away from the trunk! Sometimes little chores are worth it.

BTW kinda lucked out as I was in vertical for this little guy when it hopped to the ground...I hastily flipped it to horizontal and managed two frames before it flew away, this one and a badly oof one...

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/7.1, ISO 800 (settings histogram checked), natural light, handheld, image rotation and cropped for comp (about 85% FF), minor ground clean up using the spot removal tool, darkened the pupil.

[Ian Cassell]

Cool looking bird, Daniel, and a nice capture at that. The open beak with the little morsel in his mouth is great.

[John Robinson]

Very different Creeper shot Daniel. Never tried them at bait. Looks very similar to our Tree Creeper too.
Great stuff !
John

[Sandy Witvoet]

Superb capture of the little BC... so seldom seen on the ground and very precious. Usually your images contain an environmental element... I'm kinda missing that here. Perhaps, because, we can't determine the scale of this little bird based on the image?

[Henry Domke]

I hope you don't mind me discussing the histogram. Since I print a lot on matt paper I've learned that I need to squeeze every bit of tonality out of an image if it looks real.
This bird is on snow and parts of the snow could probably be white. However, the brightest part of your histogram is 245.

If you did a levels adjustment to bring your white point down to perhaps 245 it would brighten up the image and it might "pop" more when printed.
You could even isolate that change to just the bird to make it project more. That is what I've done here. The difference is subtle, but I do believe it will print better.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Daniel, definitely a new perspective on this guy. Never even seen one not on a trunk!

Henry, I may pick your brain a bit about printing. :) I think the different media require different processing, and I see both working well here. On your repost, I might consider darkening the midtones a bit.

[Grace Scalzo]

I have no idea why but I see a magenta cast on Henry's repost and like your original one better for this purpose. (Not sure about for printing).
As for the image, it's a sweet capture, always great to add a bird doing something different than the norm as is the case here.

[John Robinson]

I am confused a little. I cannot see much difference in the two images and I,m not sure why pics on here should be judged on potential printing results We all have different printers/montors etc , etc ,etc, and if you go down that line where does it end ??

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the snow setting, IQ, exposure and great view of the feet. Unique image Daniel!

[Dennis Zaebst]

Very nice image Daniel, and of a bird I seldom see around here (meaning northern Kentucky/soutwestern Ohio). I like the image as is, good light, good placement of the bird in the frame, and sharp.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent Dan, love the exposure and details.

[Frank Schauf]

Nice pose and sharp detail.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys! Henry, I do not mind at all and thank you for taking the time. Grace, that is interesting about the magenta cast on the repost as I do not see it.

[Bret Goddard]

It is not often I see a Creeper anywhere but never before on the ground, very nice as usual.

[Holger Leyrer]

All I can do is echo the above comments. Well done, Daniel !!

[Richard Flack]

Love this image Daniel. Think I first saw it on your Fb page. Great moment captured! The exposure looks great and the white snow really accentuates the detail and colours of this little guy. Awesom!

[Karl Egressy]

Great to find and photograph this bird, period. Finding one in the snow is probably the rarest, that is. Great work, Daniel.

[Steve Kaluski]

Another cool image Dan, like the hint of detail within the snow, just gives enough definition and interest. Great detail as ever, placement of subject in perfect light too.

Nice work.

TFS
Steve