Common Stonechat

[Mital Patel]

Hello All,

Common Stonechat (Saxicola maura)

A very beautiful morning i was passing through the entry gate of sanctuary and found few prinia and stonechat were playing in the paddy field and i stopped by the water kenal. and place my self there and watched them playing and took some shots from there as the light was just so smooth and golden and the bg was so vibrant i coulndt stop my self sitting there and clicking images of stonechat and prinia for an hour.

Camera : Nikon D300
Lens : Nikkor 80-400D ED VR f4.5/5.6
Exposure : 1/320 sec
Aperture : f/8.0
ISO Rating : 200
Captured On : 2009-02-22 09:28:18 am
Location : Thol Bird Sanctuary, Mehsana, Gujarat, INDIA

Comments and critics are welcome.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I wish for a better Head Angle and a better comp (more room to the right than to the left in this case), nice perch, pose, BG, colors and light.
Congratulations!

[Tony Whitehead]

Gorgeous green BG, Mital. I agree with Ramon regarding more room to the right and less on the left to decentre the bird and give it space to "look into". The light angle is not ideal and fill flash would have been an option to reduce the contrast and open up the shaded areas. Waiting for a little head turn toward rather than away from you would have made a big difference. Sounds like a great place to have been.

[Mital Patel]

Dear Ramon and Tony

I really appreciate your precise comment and suggestion to improve.

I am just 6 month old baby in bird photography and didnt knew this all norms while capturing them to have a good eye contacts and all.

Fascinated by the birds when i gripped my 80-400 first time when went with family to a sanctuary.

any ways i have made some PostProduction correction as suggested and some extra.

Please let me know how the changes are .

[Stu Bowie]

Mital, well exposed, sharp with good detail. Comp wise, crop off a little on the left, and about a quarter in from the right. That will give him space to look into, and he will be on the 1st third of the image.