Double Purple Finch.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Bad weather meant staying on my side of town yesterday, and doing so got me some excellent opportunities with Purple Finches - a species I do not often photograph in my area although it is around. This was a spot I was not expecting anything from so when I saw a dozen or so of these feeding on a single small feeder I promptly made an impromptu setup to lure them to a better spot on better branches. I was happy to have these two females perch next to one another before heading for the provided seeds! Stopping down ensured having them both tack sharp at the eyes.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/400s., f/10, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld while sitting in my car, about 85% FF, darkened the pupils, a larger out of place snowflake removed.

[John Rowell]

Delightful juxtaposition of these two finches. The snow adds a nice effect. I find the lower "Y" branch somewhat distracting, but am not sure it would work any better if you cloned it out. Not a big deal, I still like the image a lot.

[annmpacheco]

I like this as well Dan, your dof worked well here and the poses work so well together! gotta love the "last" of the snow too, such a pleasing image.

[keith mitchell]

Dan just my personal view of course but I would not change a thing,it's got the lot for me,composition spot on,can almost feel the cold ,certainly ticks all the boxes for me.

Keith.

[John Robinson]

Nothing worth changing in my eye Snow an added bonus anyway.
Great lighting too.
JR

[William Dickson]

Nice one Dan. I like how we can see the front and back pose. The snow makes for an interesting image.

Will

[Joseph Przybyla]

A very nice simple image, quite lovely. Perfect perch and background, the snow falling makes it special. Thank you for sharing, Daniel.

[Arthur Morris]

Superb on all counts. When I saw the JPEG i knew that this one was yours. The treatment of the snow and the perfect, complementary poses are too good. a

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Agree with all the positives mentioned. Enough snow to really give the feeling, but not enough to obscure the birds too much. The front/back poses would be great for a Bird identification guide to show both sides in one frame. Of course, the image a lot more "artistic" than most guide photos!

I appreciate John's point about the Y branch at the bottom, but it is small enough, and the contrast low enough, that it doesn't bother me personally.

Cheers

Randy