Black-capped Chickadee

[Ross Taylor]

This photo was taken at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

My Canon EOS 7D mkII, and EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens were handheld. Settings were f/4.5, 1/350s, ISO 800, 241mm. Shot RAW and processed in Lightroom.

Cropped to 65% frame width. Cloned out a few distracting longer strands of moss. Desaturated the moss slightly. Aside from regular levels and sharpening adjustments, a little NR was applied.

Bird seed may have been a factor in this cutie deciding to land on my branch ;)

Critiques very much appreciated - Thanks for having a look :)

Ross

[keith mitchell]

Beautiful clean neat image Ross,bird nice and sharp and all sitting on a nice Bg,like this a lot.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ross, I like the angled pose of the little guy, and you have brought out the finer plumage nicely. Lots of interest on the perch, especially the bits of moss spread in various places on the perch. Thats a killer smooth BG too. Comp wise, I would maybe move the Chickadee a little more over to the right. Even though he's not quite central, I believe moving him to the right a touch, wont harm the image.

[gail bisson]

I really like the IQ and the Bg and the perch.
I would evict or trim the little branch under the tail.
Otherwise , a fine image
Gail

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, BG, details and interesting perch really makes the image. I would clone out the branch at the tail if it was mine. Very well done Ross!

[Marina Scarr]

Great details and colors. I wish to see the bird a tad more to the right of the frame and in a perfect world, the branch behind the bird's tail is a bit distracting b/c it's so close. Love the angle of the bird and the bits of vegetation on the perch.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree the little chickadee could be placed more to the right, and bummer about the tail merging with the branch, but really good IQ and excellent perch. Pretty darn good BG too.

[William Dickson]

Beautiful IQ Ross. Bird and perch lovely. Finished off with a great looking BG. Nice one.

Will

[Ross Taylor]

Thanks for all your feedback and suggestions :)

I had room to move the bird to the right in the crop. Hoping here it seems good?

Pruning the distracting part of the branch under the tail was a fun challenge, since part of the tail had to be rebuilt.

How does it now compare to the original?

Thanks-so much!

Ross

[William Dickson]

Better Ross, you did well with the branch under the tail.

Nice work

Will

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost is what I had in mind. Looks perfect. Great work with the processing!