Dickcissel First Post

[Greg Payne]

My first attempt after looking at a lot of work around here. This was made last weekend in the Red River bottoms of Southwest Arkansas.

Canon 7D
300 f4 with 1.4 tele
Iso 400
f5.6
1/1600
handheld out of vehicle window

Temperature, shadow adjustments in lightroom. One small branch removed in photoshop.

[Diane Miller]

Well, you're going to have to scramble to follow up on this one! Simply gorgeous!! I love the color gradient in the smooth background! It might be on the verge of over-sharpened -- that's a line we all struggle with.

Welcome here -- hope to see lots more from you! Don't neglect to post comments on other posts, as well. Four or five comments are urged for every image posted. It's a valuable learning experience for everyone.

[Greg Payne]

I don't sharpen my work generally. It's just for my viewing though. It seems more sharp here I agree. Thanks for the comments. There was a quarter mile stretch of county road that had a bunch of these singing.

Greg

[Luis Patacao]

Looks really good to me Greg, the posse and BG, well done. I might just consider a slight decrease in the highlights(mainly for the branch).

[Sandy Witvoet]

Whatta SHOT, Greg! Incredible singing pose. Love the curvy branches...they provide a good dimensional "feel"....maybe a bit less highlight on them, as Luis mentioned... but, after all... looks like a nice sunny day and this guy was certainly making his "audio" mark on it! Pretty BG too.

[Tim Harding]

Great shot. Love the BG. I agree with Sandy and Luis about toning down the branches a little.

[Greg Payne]

Thanks for the comments. I agree that toning down the branches would work well

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Greg, just a quick note, when posting on the web you need to ensure the correct embedded profile is given to the file, as it may not be displayed to it's best. Therefore, you need to convert your web file to sRGB. Perhaps keeping the exposure comp to zero may have helped the whites, but this might be due to the application of any shadow adjustment? Personally I might ease off on the shadow adjustment certainly on the tail feathers, looks all a bit light, having some shadow areas gives a sense of 'form' & 'depth' to the image. Like the fact you could the subject signing.

TFS
Steve

[Edward Arthur]

Fabulous shot and great timing. The isolation and action is incredible. BG perfect for the moment.

[Tyler Hartje]

Great photo and wonderful timing! I love the composition and the clean background. That branch looks to be fairly small, it's amazing how birds can land without breaking branches!

[WillieHall]

beautiful focus, timing and detail. I might consider taking a little off the right, about to the end of the curved branch. Keep them coming!

[donaldmullaney]

Love the capture, BG and sharpness!...A definite "wall hanger".

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Greg, beautiful image. I am with Dianne that it appears a touch over-sharpened on my display. In your response you wrote that you do not usually sharpen your work, is this a JPEG or a RAW image post processed?

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Greg,

This is a very nice post first or otherwise. Welcome and thanks a stack for your membership support. I like that you framed wide enough to include the long twig with a border. Though I am woriking in my car, it seems that the bird is over-sharpened especially about the face.... Lovely singing pose.