Grey Fantail

[Paul Burdett]

Spent a lovely 4 hours at my favourite location yesterday. Here's one of my keepers:
7Dii, 400mm, 1/320th sec, f5.6, iso400, AV mode hand-held. Cheers.

[Moe Richard]

Nice-looking pose and excellent detail. I think the area around the eyes a little dark and perhaps could be lightened a bit.

[John Mack]

Nice pose and perch on the bird. Like the diagonal perch as well. The background is pretty nice. Yes to brightning the head a little.

[Tim Foltz]

Nice shot, yes to brightening the head a bit and wish you used a higher f-stop, nice perch and BG.

-Tim

[Paul Burdett]

Thanks all. I'll do some lightening on the head area. Cheers!

[annmpacheco]

I'll refrain from commenting but will return after your repost!

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Paul, when the bird is darker than the BG it is always challenging to get the details and brightness right on the bird, for these situations a fill flash can pay very high dividends. have you tried it?

TFS

[Paul Burdett]

Hi. I wasn't planning on reposting, but as Ann is reserving judgement I lightened the head area a little.
Arash: Thanks for the tip. Yes, I have used fill flash many times, but usually when in a rainforest type setting. However, I will keep this in mind on my next shoot. Cheers!

[Mervyn Marsh]

Hi nice clear shot, these are fun birds to shoot, b/g looks ok and bird is sharp, for my taste the fantail is a bit large in the frame and i'd like more room around it, Cheers, Merv

[Paul Burdett]

Thanks Mervyn...I was thinking a bit more room on the LHS maybe.

[Mervyn Marsh]

something like this maybe?

[Paul Burdett]

Looks good! My even work as a vertical crop too.

[gail bisson]

I am late to the party but agree with most of the above comments.
Repost is better for sure.

[Dorian Anderson]

Sadly, the lighting conditions and background really limit what you can accomplish with this frame. Sharpness is OK, but going to ISO 800 and cutting shutter to 1/640 would have helped a bunch since you were handholding.
Agree with wider crop and lightening the face a touch.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Dorian. I appreciate your comments/feedback. Not sure what you mean with iso800 and 1/640th sec...maybe a tad sharper? (but with more noise, which can be reduced in pp). I actually like the BG, as it contrasts with the darker bird. What's the main weakness as you see it? Cheers.