White-Winged Crossbill

[Malcolm Benn]

The shot was taken at 11AM on the 24th using a Canon 50D with 300mm f2.8 and 1.4x extender ... AV priority, f5 and 1/1250, ISO 320, Auto W/B

thanks for looking

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Neat bird Malcolm. Might have been better with a bit more of a head turn towards us??? Like how you can see the bill in profile with the BG. Why is the bill like this?

[Malcolm Benn]

Hi Jackie, Crossbills are certainly an odd looking bird. I have shots with more head turn but they all just look to weird to me so I went with the police line-up side profile shot :D. Not that I'm an expert but from my experience I've mostly seen these birds fairly high in Spruce trees and they use their unusually shaped beaks to pry open the cones to get the seeds.

[Deborah Harrison]

Nice image - I would however consider cropping it a bit more to eliminate some of the blue on the right right lower corner. I think the position on the pine cones add a lot especially in realizing how small this bird must be.

[Harold Davis]

agree with jackie. the head turn towards you would have put this over the top. you did real well as is. i like the all the elements. just feel disconnected from the subject.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Malcolm,
I like the capture and image. I would recommend on taking 1/4 from the top of the frame...all other techs. have been addressed. Looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Malcolm

Excellent capture ... perfect for the tech side !!! One difficult bird to capture.

The thing that bothers me the most is placement and angle. Center placement with square crop? Bird on the lower left with a rectangular would work better or vertical with bird at bottom left? Interesting !!!

[Malcolm Benn]

Nice image - I would however consider cropping it a bit more to eliminate some of the blue on the right right lower corner. I think the position on the pine cones add a lot especially in realizing how small this bird must be.

Thanks Debbie, you're right the more I see it the more I don't like the crop either.

[Malcolm Benn]

agree with jackie. the head turn towards you would have put this over the top. you did real well as is. i like the all the elements. just feel disconnected from the subject.

Thanks Harold.

[Malcolm Benn]

Hi Malcolm,
I like the capture and image. I would recommend on taking 1/4 from the top of the frame...all other techs. have been addressed. Looking forward to your next one...:cool:

Thanks Gus.

[Malcolm Benn]

Hi Malcolm

Excellent capture ... perfect for the tech side !!! One difficult bird to capture.

The thing that bothers me the most is placement and angle. Center placement with square crop? Bird on the lower left with a rectangular would work better or vertical with bird at bottom left? Interesting !!!

Thanks Al, I appreciate the comments and suggestions.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Malcom - intresting bird - techs covered above - agree on the crop - centre and square doesn't work for me ... looking forward to more :)

[Malcolm Benn]

Hi Malcom - intresting bird - techs covered above - agree on the crop - centre and square doesn't work for me ... looking forward to more :)

Thanks Lance ... seems like the consensus is the crop is all wrong :o .. guess I need to remember to cover all the bases :)