As I was on my way out to the boardwalk to look for some ducklings and Great Blue Herons I noticed this spotted towhee perched in a tree right in front of me! I often see them hiding off in the bushes but have never had a good opportunity to photograph one until now.
Photo details:
Canon 60d, 400mm f5.6 lens
f/5.6
1/500 sec.
ISO 400
exp. +0.7
Crop and white balance in Canon DPP.
Exciting to finally catch one up close isn't it. This one is a bit soft and bright, but like many I have in my"collection" it makes a good remembrance photo. I like the comp and the eye catch.
The birds beak appears to be sharp and then it gets softer from there back. Did you try to recover some details in the whites in post? They seem a little bright. Any reason you chose to go with +.7 in the exposure comp?
I've tried without success to photograph these in my neck of the woods, so nice to see somebody got one. I agree the whites could probably be brought down. It looks as though focus may have hit some of the foliage. Many the focus sensors have a wider coverage area than is indicated in the viewfinder, and avian subjects don't often sit still. It's best to choose one sensor and try to get it on the eye, but it doesn't always work perfectly.
If you cropped from the right, I'd add a little more back -- the bird is crowding the edge of the frame, to my tastes.
I just don't like that branch hanging from the upper left hand corner. It's competing to much
with the Towhee. Without it, you'd have a nice transition from the foreground to background.
If you left the left edge crop as it is and cropped quite a bit from the right (more than 1/3, maybe about 2/5), to make a vertical, then that branch isn't so bothersome, for me -- just the area near the end remains and it points toward the bird.
Thanks so much everyone for the feedback. I see what you mean by the whites being a little too bright. I'll go back and see if I can bring the whites down some and re-crop the photo this week if I get the chance, if not it may have to wait until the weekend.
Spotted Towhee
Posting Permissions
