Verdin in Gilbert AZ

[Mike Quigley]

Visiting my daughter in AZ, many birds I haven't seen. Love this one.

1DX 500mm f4 6.3 iso 400 Shutter speed 1600

[Stuart Philpott]

Mike one of the joys of posting here, isn't just the amazing time given by others to help us grow,but it is seeing all these birds that I have no knowledge of what so ever.what a fab little chap he is. So, to your image, well I'm learning so can only give thoughts really. would it have been possible for you to have stepped to your left a bit. This might have given you chance to separate him from the oof cacti (is it flower bud) behind the verdin's head??? I'd also muse that he might be fairly quick like so many smaller birds so maybe a bit more iso and faster shutter,as I say i'm learning Mike. I really like him set against the harsh spines Mike it's a lovely image,thanks for sharing this one

take care

Stu

[Jim Keener]

Hello, Mike. You've captured a beautiful bird in an environment that tells a story. Congratulations. I agree with Stuart about positioning. And my personal preference would be to see the bird larger in the frame. Of course I understand that more crop might result in unacceptable noise. I wonder if a lighter exposure would be better. TFS.

[Glennie Passier]

Stuart...I am so impressed with your critique of Mike's image. You are "seeing" so much!

Mike - The sweetness of the little bird against the spines of cactus is a wonderful juxtaposition. A very nice environmental shot. As Stu has already mentioned. Just a couple of steps to the left may have cleared the OOF bud...or there may have been something else in the way. For may taste, I would prefer to have the bird a little less centred.

Thank you for sharing Mike.

[Mike Quigley]

Thanks to all of you, the knowledge and caring at this site is unreal. Unfortunately i was sitting on a rock when the bird showed and if I would had moved there would have been no shot. So like Mr Morris says, take the shot. Thanks to the criticism here I am getting more disciplined at trying to frame better. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Mike

[Glennie Passier]

Mike, Always take the shot!

[Diane Miller]

Great chance encounter! First thought is that the image is smaller than the limit here -- it is 800 x 533 px and we can post at 1200 x 1000. Bigger helps with critique. And with that camera and lens, I'd suggest cropping considerably. If you got sharp focus (no way to tell here) you should be able to crop quite a bit.

It wouldn't be difficult to remove the bud, and the bright spine that touches the chest.

Would love to see a repost!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Mike, Here is my quick and dirty critique. You have good gear; with practice you can do much better than this. IQ is poor and you did not use the max size permitted: < 400kb. Use your AF points to get the bird out of the center of the frame. Learn Photoshop so you can eliminate the really distracting stuff like the white stick by its face (removed in the repost). Learn to use both teleconverters. Subscribe to my blog and study and post lots of images here. a