Stonechat

[Tim Munsey]

A Stonechat, don't know whether I like these shots due to my familiarity with these charming birds...

D850, 500mm with 1.4TC, 1/2000 at F/5.6, ISO 640, handheld, UK Swillington.

[Randy Stout]

Well Tim, I think we are all prone to favoring certain shots for personal reasons. Which is just fine!

I like the different layers in the background, soft colors , comp based on bird angle and position.

In a perfect world, would like him a bit larger in the frame, to show more detail.

Cheers

Randy

[Mike Poole]

Tough call on this one Tim. The more 'birder' biased shooter amongst us is going to want the bird larger in frame for detail, where as there are some that prefer more 'environmental' shots.

I probably fall into the latter category, and knowing the usual habitat of Stonechats, I see this as a beautiful frame, totally natural, and the bird is exhibiting a near perfect stonechat pose

Mike

[gail bisson]

I like the environment included but feel there is too much "dead space" in front of the stonechat so I would crop from left and I would also crop from the RHS to evict that single twig that runs along the edge.
By cropping the image a bit, you would make the stonechat slightly larger in the frame -which is a good thing !
I really like the color palette.

[Aditya Sridhar]

This is certainly something different. I'm a fan of habitat shots, so I love the small-in-frame look. I agree with Gail that there's just a bit too much room in front of the bird. I would brighten the face and the catchlight a bit to draw more attention to the bird. A light vignette might also help to that end. Very nice overall, Tim - colors, the bird's pose, the perch and mood are great!

[Ivan Sjogren]

My favorite bird aswell actually! It's a bit of a weird choice when you think of all the colorfull bird out there but I always have such a blast photographing this species and their personality is so likeable. I think you captured this bird in a typical setting which makes it a strong frame for me.
I don't need the bird bigger in frame but would crop somethings for a strong composition. I want to get rid of every twig in focus except for the one the bird is sitting on. Therefor the small intersecting twigs on the right hand side would go for me as would the small twigs sticking up from the bottom on the left side. Cloning might be a better option than cropping to get rid of the latter ones. Otherwise I think you got a nice colorpalette, good exposure and nice details.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is very good. I actually love all the negative space at left - the thin wispy grasses fill in that space beautifully IMO and keep that space interesting enough to keep it all there. Removing the two twigs at the extreme right edge would be a good option. When you already have files and files of closeups of a species, images like this change things up and adds positively to a portfolio. Well done.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Image has a different tone to general images and it shows the habitat well. I think can be improved with different choice of composition. I am thinking of going vertical with this one.

TFS

[John Mack]

Small in the frame works well here. Nice placement of the bird in the frame.