Goldfinch in a Jackpine

[John Chardine]

This is an American Goldfinch in basic, winter plumage from my feeder in Sackville, New Brunswick.

This was one of those images where the subject was not the problem, the BG was. I have tried to de-emphasise same by evening out the lighting (dodge and burn), some mild cloning, desat, and Gaussian Blur. I could have made it look like a studio backdrop but this is as far as I was willing to go. As luck would have it there's a Jackpine leaf sticking out of the back of the bird. Oh well. I cropped the image and sharpened. That's it. The under-tail whites are not blown BTW.

Comments welcome of course!

Canon EOS 50D, 500/4
capture date: Saturday, 10 January, 2009 2:47 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/200
aperture: f8.0
exposure bias: -0.3
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the soft light, details and eye contact. It might also work as horizontal crop as the branch at the top is a bit distracting.

[Joe Senzatimore]

I think the Horizontal crop would work much better as stated. Light is wonderful.

[Steve Canuel]

Another vote for a horizontal crop (to just above the needles behind him). I think the BG looks good. It gives me the impression of peeking into the branches. The color tone is nicely warm.

[John Chardine]

Thanks for all the good comments. I fully intended to come back here and repost but then lots of other things got in the way. Anyway here's the horizontal repost, which I agree is an improvement.