Henslow's Sparrow

[Ed Schneider]

Perch and lighting not ideal here, but I can't get enough of this subject!

D300
AF-S (1) 500mm f/4 + TC 14eII
1/200th @ f/8
ISO 400
-1 EV

Bell's Bend Park
Davidson Co., Tn., USA

[Randy Stout]

Ed:

Sharp, nice colors, love the feet gripping the perch. The light is fine with me, soft, low contrast.

There appears to be an odd spot along the front edge of feathers, just below the beak.

A little noise is creeping into the background in some areas.

From a composition standpoint, I think it would have been really fine without the one branch crossing the tail, and the small branch that comes off just above the front foot. I like it as is, but sometimes its fun to think of what would be stronger, helps pre visualize for future shots!

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Ilija Dukovski]

Agree with Randy, especially about the noise in the BG,
could be fixed. A bit of better HA would've been good too.
I love the warm colors of the image.

I also wanted to say it is so good to see this species here.
Keep them coming...

[Grace Scalzo]

Hi Ed, I personally like the lighting and the perch, especially the way his feet are gripping it. The bird feels too big in the frame to my senses, and I'm wondering how much you cropped this.... if a vertical presentation might be a possibility. The stray branch on the right (intersecting his tail) might be more acceptable if we could see how it's connected to the stalk.

[Dave Leroy]

A very nice image. I really like the colours and lighting. The bird does seem a bit large in the frame to me, and my preference would be to have it a bit lower or higher in the frame. Well done. Dave

[Ed Schneider]

Thanks, all. This was not cropped that much, I just wanted as much detail as possible on this scarce subject. I'll have to try a vert crop tonight, and rid the BG of some noise. I'll get this bird on the "perfect perch" one day:)

Ed

[Stu Bowie]

That what makes us go back, time and time again - to get the better shot. Randy pretty much covered the image, and I would maybe lighten the eye a bit.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Sweet capture and you gotta love those little feet. Excellent detail too. I agree about the branches but then they do not always cooperate. Well done and thanks for sharing Ed.

[Paul Ricciardi]

Love the feet! The perch doesn't bother me too much, shows the bird in its habitat.
Keep shooting Ed!

[Steve Maxson]

I like everything about this image, Ed - the light, pose, sharpness, background, and, yes, the perch. I wouldn't change anything. :)

[Bruce Enns]

Hi Ed, I really like this image as well. I might give the bird just a wee bit more room in the frame. There is visible BG noise which I would remove. The perched pose is cool, and I think if the branch crossing the tail were removed it would somehow make the image unbalanced. You might also brighten up the eye/catchlight just a tad. Thanks for sharing this!

Cheers!
Bruce