Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hand held image captured on a local morning walk.
Olympus E-M1X
Focal length in 35 mm film : 1202.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO Sensitivity : 1600
Exposure compensation : +1.0 EV
Shutter : 1/1600 sec
Aperture : F8

ACR/TopazDNAI/PSCC

[David Roach]

Love the light right on the face, the calling pose and that eye. Only wish the OOF leaves crossing subject weren't there ( but they were). PP excellent as usual. TFS

ps
Not a bad companion for morning walk...

[kevin Hice]

Nice capture details look great and love the bramble branch with the red. Adds some interest with the call. To bad about the OOF leaf. TFS

[dankearl]

Nice calling pose but a bit too much going in frame with the perch for me...

[William Dickson]

Well captured Jon....Natural looking....Never seen one this year....It looks a wee bit over exposed here....

Will

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... a very fine image , specially when having in mind that you just did your morning walk with " Barney" I guess.

Nice pose and the perch is looking good , not that sterile set up appearance ... where folks ( including yourself ) asking for the quite boring very clean single stick with no distractions .
This is more my style ....
Overall color and Tones are looking very nice and the sharpening is well done .... .

Only thing I might change a tiny bit is dodging the eye ... bringing a bit more file to it .
Just my take .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks very much everyone, I am glad you liked it.

Andreas, I did brighten the eye a little but I take your point, glad you liked the sharpening, I have modified the regime slightly.

I am very sorry to say Barney was not with me, I had to have him euthanised, 21 January 2021, he became very weak/reluctant to exercise and began accumulating fluid in his abdominal cavity. A scan revealed he had tumours in his spleen and liver, I suspect secondaries to a primary squamous carcinoma he had in his paw whic was removed two years ago, the prognosis was "cautiously optimistic"......... I knew what that meant.

He was pretty much my constant companion 24/7, he was the first and last thing I thought about daily.

Life has been very sad but I am pleased to say I am now a lot better than I was....... but I miss him so very much..... it was pretty much like losing a son.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Oh Jon .... I feel really sorry for you , I can imagine how hard it is for you to loose a real friend ( or son in your words) .
You know what I am doing for my income .... so I can really feel your pain .

Andreas

[William Dickson]

Sorry to hear the news about Barney Jon....

[John Mack]

That perch is neat with those thorns. You handled the light very well. I like the blue sky background.