Stonechat

[Ihtisham Kabir]

Stonechat photographed on 7 January 2016 in Purbachol, Bangladesh.
Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 500 mm f4 II
1/1000 sec; f7.1; ISO 640; handheld
Post processing: NR in bg; sharpening of eye; spot-heal in 2 places; contrast via curves; dodging of head

Thanks for looking. C/C welcome. Ihtisham

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ihtisham, a typical stonechat pose, and always on a very thin 'perch'. The bird seems a bit lost in the frame here, and I would look at an alternative crop coming in from both sides and the top to have a more traditional vertical crop. I do like the colour of the BG.

[Ihtisham Kabir]

Thanks for your feedback Stu. I will try out a tighter crop. The square is required by the project I am working on. Ihtisham

[keith mitchell]

Hi Ihtisham, agree with Stu I would try a tighter crop and maybe try to tone down the long grass in front of the bird,I really like the nice bg and the simple presentation.

Keith.

[Ihtisham Kabir]

Keith, thanks for your comments. Stu and Keith, here is the image cropped. Makes a big difference - appreciate your suggestions. Also glad that the bg is coming together - NR and Gaussian blurs help. Not sure how to handle that grass other than clone-healing out.... but maybe ok there. Cheers. Ihtisham

[Glennie Passier]

This is lovely Ihtisham. The BG is a gorgeous match for the bird. To be honest, I think you have cropped too much. I think if you cloned out that blade of grass you would also lose that "habitat" feel. Maybe a slight desaturation of the green?