Hawfinch

[Jan Wegener]

taken a few months back :)
A shot I reall fell in love with...

I hope you don't find anything to clone here :D

Mark IIn
600 IS
580 EX + BB @ -2
Iso 400
F7.1
1/200

[Aidan Briggs]

Wow, this on is superb. Perfect BG, light, sharpness, and HA for that look back pose. I love the dangling things.
Well done!!

[Kiran Poonacha]

Such a beautiful image this is.. surely a image to fall in love with.. loved the clean BG and the details and offcourse the beauty of the Bird. congrats..

[Mital Patel]

I would say a shot that anyone can't deny to fall in love with.
i've no words except to say you made my day.

[Andy Nguyen]

Hi Jan, this is a beautiful image. Perfect exposure, nice clean BG, great color balance. One minor thing that bothers me is the twig being near center. Despite not wanting to clip the "dangling things", I might try to be adventurous and re-position the frame higher (leaving more room above the bird's head, and less room at the bottom, provided if this was not a full frame shot). Andy

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Jan, dieses Bild ist ausgezeichnet! ;)

Nothing to mention, your subject, perch and BG are all to die for (not in a literal way).

[Arthur Morris]

Jan, dieses Bild ist ausgezeichnet! Not sure what that means but I agree! Spectacular image. Almost love the catkins more than the bird. So, so sharp. And a killer BKGR.

What was the BKGR? Can you please tell us about the situation? Was it at a feeder?

[Arthur Morris]

I hope you don't find anything to clone here :D

Hey Jan, I could not resist the challenge. I used two Quick Masks (and the Eraser Tool on one of them) and I think that the repost may--depending on your personal eethics--be an improvement of an already spectacular image.

[Caroline Darmo]

Wow! This is so good! Love the framing with the catkins, great look back and amazing background.

[Stu Bowie]

Well balanced comp, and I like the detail and colours on the little guy. What a killer BG too. Well captured.

[Jan Wegener]

HI,

it was taken at my backyard feeder. It's just a very small set up. I always struggled to get a good BG, till I figured out how to do it. I set up my blind on the porch, which is about 1m higher than the perches, by doing so, I was able to use the lawn as BG. In this image the color is so beautiful, cause the grass is still wet and there some indirect light coming from my back, combined with soft fill flash :)

These guys are very tricky to get at feeders at it took me a couple of days to figure out how I had to place the perches in order to have them land first on them. Normally they just sit on the ground or the feeder itself. The perch itself I found while walking through the woods, I took it back home and was really happy to get this shot.
To get these guys you have to feed massively, at some time I had 8 birds at the feeder, who ate about 4 pounds of ssed a day!! If you don't feed enough they are gone instantly

@ Artie, I agree, this is even better :) But I had to download both pictures to notice the difference :)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Jan. You did a great job with the set-up and the image (which I love). Glad that you spotted and liked the two changes.

[Mike Lentz]

Got my vote for I.O.W. !! Enough said. :)
Oh wait, I don't have a vote. :D

[Jan Wegener]

and I can't participate in the contest ;-)

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, membership has its benefits. And I would agree that this image has contest winning potential.

[Nagesh Mula]

Its a beautiful picture Jan, very well captured and the nice setup. the twigs are adding a lot to the picture. Congratulations!!