Hawfinch ( M )

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi folks ... back in business for posting
Been on a trip for mainly shooting some wildlife in Austria and France , on the way to France I made a two day stop in southern Germany to photograph some birds .... namely Kingfisher and Buzzard from hides . Both turned out not arriving ( Buzzard ) and even worse floods have destroyed the KF nesting site with the brood inside ... bad luck for the KF´s . So I sat for two days in the Buzzard hide ... but he did not come .
Instead there were some other birds around ... but nothing special ... apart from this Hawfinch . Weather was not on my side .... ....

But here you go , perch is not the nicest one on earth but was meant for larger birds to sit on .

Canon EOS R3
RF 400 2,8 IS L + 2x TC
Tripod

F 8 ; Iso 40.000 ; 1/2500 sec

Processed with Capture One and PSCC 2023 ; slight crop for better comp ... the stuff in BG are OOF raindrops and they do stay !!!

Thanks for watching and commenting to my last postings

Cheers Andreas

[kevin Hice]

Well Processed details are superb. I love the perch and background colors. My personnel preference would ditch the specular highlights rain drops just so few and the ones in the top left corner really draw my eye. Do like the subtle ones on the head. Wow on the ISO would have never guessed and wouldn't have attempted. TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

RF 400 2,8 IS L + 2x TC

Someone has robbed the bank.

ISO 40,000 is impressive and you do have great detail, some who shoot at ISO400 struggle to achieve, so a good lesson not to be afraid to up the ISO.

Personally I'm not a lover of the perch, a bit chunky for the wee subject, but... I think going with a far less SS to get more steaks of rain would have been better, the specula's are not adding where as rods of rain would have, more atmospheric and also the ISO could have come down. Be interesting to see how this would stand up to a 16x12 print, considering at 1600px it's on 4 inches high in real money.

TFS
Steve
PS I might remove the green cast patches on the perch, doesn't look right.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Steve ... indeed i robbed the local bank , my account is now lower .But the price was so good i could not resist ... a second hand lens like new . Same with 2x and 1,4 TC .
Now i need a second RF Body to get rid of the EF stuff .... but will not go the R5 route , had the chance to get a new R3 for 4k Euros .... but the offer did sound not " safe " . So i refused to take the chance .

As in the intro said ... the perch is not the nicest one , so i would have preferred a different one .... i have more images with a even chunkier one . But i took the option to shoot regardless of the perch situation . Was not allowed to remove the chunky stuff , installed smaller ones close to the chunkier ones but the small birds did not really landed on them .
I am with you about should having tried slower SS for the rain streaks ... as specially the Hawfinch was a very calm visitor not that hectic as most of the other visitors , will try to remember next time . But these are basically my first images of this species ... i forgot about going creative , sadly .

The green cast stays as i just reflects the grass right under the perch .... so quite natural to me .

Cheers Andreas

[Daniel Cadieux]

The perch in as of itself does not look bad - but as you say it was meant for larger birds. Had the oof part touching the bird not been there it would have been much better. I like the vertical composition, BG, sharpness. I'd be OK with the subject a bit lower in the frame, but ok as is too. To you guys on the other side of the pond a hawfinch is nothing special, but for most of us on this side they are very cool and we'd love to see one - they are very "Evening Grosbeak-ish" but with different plumage :-)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot, a Hawfinch would be special for me! The perch is perhaps not ideal but I feel the subject commands such presence that it doesn't really matter.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks for comments guys , much appreciated .


Cheers Andreas