WELCOMED WINTER VISITOR

[gary ellwein]

The American tree sparrow brightens up my winter. The hardy little fellows venture from the far north to grace us with their presence during the winter. I used a Topaz Textures and Nik CEP4 vignette and border.

[Dennis Bishop]

Your processing makes the sparrow stand out very nicely. The texture and the few stalks of fairly bare vegetation give a wintry feel.

It's good to have you back.

[Wendy Kates]

This is a really nice image: I totally agree with Dennis' comments, plus I really like the delicate, crossing branches of the vegetation, and the way that the subtle color of the branches gets picked up by the bird.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Gary,

Greetings. I like how the texture sets the mood. Wish for a little more contrast in the rump to set it off from the bg. Maybe a slightly darker crown? The feather detail resonates with the texture. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Nancy Bell]

Excellent minimalist composition with just the sparrow and a few spare weed stalks. The textured background is a brilliant addition, adding subtle lines that echo the scratchy stalks and pale color variations for depth and seasonality. The frame is just right and holds your eye in the image and prevents you from flowing outwards following any of the texture lines. The Tree Sparrow is great. Maybe a tiny highlight in the eye.

[Anita Bower]

Very nice. A cute little bird. I see them out my window all the time. Excellent texture work. It does have a wintry look. I second Nancy in suggesting a tiny highlight in the eye. Excellent work.

[gary ellwein]

Thanks to all for the look and comments. My absence was in part due to malfunction of my 600mm lens. It is my favorite. A lens tune up appears to have remedied the problem. In addition, we are having winter this year. Hunkering down in 3 feet of snow along the Snake River shooting swan and ducks does not have the appeal of days gone by. I have spent the winter getting comfortable with Michael Tape's Focus Tune system. It is a narcotic for those with an element of obsessive compulsive disorder. I am aware that fine tuning each of my camera-lens combinations has nothing to do with vision, creativity, and technique. Thanks to all of the group for your participation.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks to all for the look and comments. My absence was in part due to malfunction of my 600mm lens. It is my favorite. A lens tune up appears to have remedied the problem. In addition, we are having winter this year. Hunkering down in 3 feet of snow along the Snake River shooting swan and ducks does not have the appeal of days gone by. I have spent the winter getting comfortable with Michael Tape's Focus Tune system. It is a narcotic for those with an element of obsessive compulsive disorder. I am aware that fine tuning each of my camera-lens combinations has nothing to do with vision, creativity, and technique. Thanks to all of the group for your participation.

Thanks for the update. Wonderful that your 600mm (I can't imagine using one) is now working properly. I'm with you on the snow.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Gary, I am usually not a big fan of textures but as Denise Ippolito would say, you really knocked this one out of the park. Everything fits together perfectly. love to you both, a