Zebra Finch

[Simon Bennett]

The area near Winton in western Queensland is alive with finches and parrots following heavy summer rains. This male Zebra Finch was photographed at a bush waterhole.

Canon 40D, EF500 f/4 + 1.4x, tripod, kwik camo blind. ISO 100, 1/250, f/10, evaluative, ec -1/3, a bit cropped from left, and a distracting leaf digitally removed from behind bird. A couple of specular highlights toned down.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Cool species with some very nice colours, HT and sharpness! I am ok with the setting although I would probably try to clone out the leaves in the OOF BG. The intersection line cutting through the birds head is less than ideal. Otherwise excellent.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Neat little bird - unfortunately one that I only see in pet stores here. It's good to see one in a wild setting. Good low angle, and I like the mud perch. The leaves are distracting - the long OOF one should be easy enough to remove, but the sharp one below the bird would be a tougher endeavour. I agree with the intersecting line comment by Krijn. I can see some of your leaf removal artefatcs, a bit of polishing up in that area would be good.

[Leo Berzins]

Great to see this stunning little bird in a natural setting (rather than in an aviary or on a fence).
Nice pose, perch, exposure and sharpness.
Keep these outback shots coming, Simon.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great HA, pose and colors too. one of my fave finches. nice environment. I am OK with the leaves. :)

[David Roach]

Way cool bird! The leaves don't bother me, but might be toned down a bit. The exposure and sharpness are fantatsic. Also would have liked to see the head completely on the water BG, perhaps by moving to your right (if that was an option). Still Love it as is! Congrats!

[Brian Barcelos]

Everything has been covered, just wanted to add that I love the colors. Very nice image.

Brian

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

I love this image. The bird itself is nice to see in wild as mainly seen in cages :(
The bird is well framed and tones and colors are fine. The dead leaf is taking my eyes but that would be a tricky task to clone it out.

Szimi

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Beautiful bird, good sharpness, exposure control and eye contact. I would have tried to go even lower to avoid getting the shadow in the BG.

[Erich Stevens]

Very effective use of fill flash, you made the bird really pop off the BG. And I like the leaves, too.

[Stu Bowie]

What a great looking finch, Simon. I like the detail, and colours. I find the leaf, LLC a bit distracting.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Superb species, loved the details here... congrats

[Ramon M. Casares]

Love these tiny guys! Light is stunning, pose is great, colors and detail are superb IMO. I only wish the two leaves were not there. Congratulations!

[Jim Buescher]

Perfect light and exposure on this tiny bird. Maybe crop from the bottom to the top of the foreground leaf and add equal amount to the top, or leave as a pano. Everything about the bird is spot on.

[Gal Shon]

A beautiful bird,very good sharpness and light.
A little bit lower would upgrade the already wonderful image.