I spent a pleasant hour photographing Stonechats, I have several images in different places and I would welcome any comments particularly relating to the colours and exposure. I processed in Adobe RAW and used Auto Color Balance as opposed to As Shot - there was very little difference. The other settings (Daylight Cloudy)seemed a little warm.
Canon 20D Canon 500mm F4 L IS Gitzo and Mongoose 3.5
ISO 200 +1 stop
1/160 sec @ f4
Hi Jonathan, I posted the basic process that I used to process your image of the woodpecker here (http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...793#post196793) Let me know if you do not understand my steps... I do my best but I am not english fluent :p
The stonechat looks really sharp and I like the BG and perch a lot. A bit of additional light in the eye area and a bit of warming up the overall colour would be great, easy to fix in PS.
I agree with Juan. Just a touch warmer, but exposure is bang on. Just as an aside...although sharpness is good here don't be afraid to bump up the ISO for higher shutter speeds, you'll put chances on your side with small figity birds :-)