Lapland Longspur

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I finally found some lapland longspurs. As you can see on the back of the head, it was quite windy. It is cropped from horizontal.

1D3, 500f4, 1.4x, 1/800s, f/9, EC +0.67, ISO 400

[Ramon M. Casares]

This is wonderfull, nice pose and lovely light, colors and detail, no nits for me. Congratulaitons!

[Doug Brown]

Nice perch and pose. I would darken the dirt mound a bit and perhaps darken the light areas behind the bird's head. Just out of curiosity why +2/3?

[Rene Quenneville]

Beautiful and sharp! I support Doug's recommendations.

[Tony Whitehead]

Beautiful colours and sharpness. I might add a very mild corner burn and maybe burn in the perch a little.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice perch and pose. I would darken the dirt mound a bit and perhaps darken the light areas behind the bird's head. Just out of curiosity why +2/3?

Thanks, Doug! I set the EC after checking the histogram. There was also snow around on the ground.

[Doug Hitchcox]

Love this shot Axel! I would be tempted to lighten the iris a little.
Also just curious if you did a gaussian blur around the bird? It looks like the area very close to the bird, especially by the feet, could be a little smoother. Might even sharpen the right side of the perch

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Love this shot Axel! I would be tempted to lighten the iris a little.
Also just curious if you did a gaussian blur around the bird? It looks like the area very close to the bird, especially by the feet, could be a little smoother. Might even sharpen the right side of the perch

Thanks for the suggestions, Doug! I used NR on the BG and have to look on the big monitor if I missed a few areas.

[Jim Fenton]

Axel....

I like the longspur itself, however, the light patches of the background detract to my eyes...especially the light patch directly behind the birds head which looks almost as if it follows the outline of the forehead and bill area.

I also would have done some contrast sharpening perhaps as it appears to be too hot relative to the gamma.

[Simon Bennett]

Lovely pose, detail and shared colours of bird and background.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Axel,
Good shot of this nice species. I like the perch, pose, and BG. I am wondering if you did some gaussian blur on the BG as the edges around the perch on the right look a bit off. Otherwise nice shot

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Hi Axel,
Good shot of this nice species. I like the perch, pose, and BG. I am wondering if you did some gaussian blur on the BG as the edges around the perch on the right look a bit off. Otherwise nice shot

Thanks, Krijn! You could be right, I used NR on the BG, I have to check the TIFF file if I accidentally selected part of the perch.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

A very handsome bird.
I just find the breast a bit too light. I am not saying that you lost detail there.
That's my only nit, the other topics are covered.