Eyecontact with Bearded Tit

[Pieter Dol]

This picture i made in the top of the Netherlands, in an area called "Lauwersmeer", it was freezing cold (-5 C). The bird was eating, and watched me making pictures of him. A very nice experience. What i like on the picture is the DOF. The light brown is reed on the opposite side of the water, the blue color is the sky.

Thanks for watching, kind regards Pieter Dol

Aperture	F 5.6
Date/time	10 januari 2009 09:37 09:37
Focal length	700 mm
ISO	500
Shutter speed	1/640 sec
Camera	NIKON D300

[Mark Schmitt]

First: this is one of my favorite European tits. What works: The composition is good over-all; like the graduated BG.; the perch is a strong point of interest. Suggestions: I might take a little canvas off the right side; the bird seems a little soft in focus perhaps some selective sharpening ;-) Like it.

[Rosl Roessner]

Hi Piter,
this is a beautiful bird on a really great perch.
I would crop something from the right, because I think, it would work better if the bird is not in the center of the image. The picture would also work well as a vertical composition!
Nice eyecontact and very pleasing background.

[Tony House]

We have Bearded Tits in England but they are very scarce and only found in a few places unfortunately but I would love to get in my view finder, especially if it looked like this.. Love the layered B/G, detail and pose.

Nice work.
Tony

[Pieter Dol]

Thanks for the suggestions and tips. You are right Mark and Rosl, i did another crop on the right side of the picture, and some additional sharpening, and think its more stronger now.

If you ever come to the Netherlands Tony, i can show you some areas where you can find these beautiful birds. They live in large fields of reed.

This was my first post, thanks for this warm reception.

Regards Pieter.