Dark-eyed Junco Setup

[Scott Elowitz]

This was taken at a setup that Alan Murphy and I were working on in New Mexico for the different sub-species of Dark-eyed Junco. The bird was coming in for food.

Canon 50D, 500mm f/4 @ f/8 ISO 800, 1/400 LensCoat

[denise ippolito]

Scott, Beautiful sharpness and pose. I love the perch w/ the moss and lichen(sp?) I'm seeing a very small halo at the back of the neck area by the head. Very nice set-up and details.

[Danny Laredo]

This is really nice. Lovely head turn and pose. BG and perch are excellent.

[Glenn Bartley]

An awesome setup. I love it Scott...the perch is great as well :)

[Randy Stout]

Scott:

Very nicely done. Very sharp(right on the edge for me of being oversharpened), well exposed, nice perch.

I have mixed feelings about the upper branch. It does frame the bird, but I am always vaguely bothered by having not being able to see the junction with the main branch. Just me.

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Highly appealing image Scott! Excellent pose from the junco, and the perch has tons of character with all that lichen. I can't help but feel said perch/lichens go go darker though...

Well done!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the setup, light and BG. It looks as if there is a slight magenta cast, maybe due to old 50D firmware? The bird looks a bit oversharpened on my monitor and I might lighten the eye a bit.

[Jim Fenton]

I suppose if I'm not comfortable posting my thoughts, I should give up posting here...so I'll post :)

It's a nicely posed image, but the first thing my mind says when it sees this is FAKE ?

Maybe it's where I live and shoot, but perches like this don't exist. Most of the lichen and moss covered branches are laying on the ground and not sitting pretty up in the air and if there is one or two of them around, nothing sits on them.

On this image, the top branch could go away IMHO, especially whereas everything else in the image is in focus, but the plant matter at the extreme top isn't. That would be OK if there wasn't a total separation between the subject / perch and background.

I agree with Daniel about the lichens / moss possibly being a bit too bright and actually, if the background were toned down a bit the bird would become more prevalent relative to it's surroundings.

I suppose it becomes a question of what one is trying to convey with their images...real nature or fabricated art?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I suppose if I'm not comfortable posting my thoughts, I should give up posting here...so I'll post :)

It's a nicely posed image, but the first thing my mind says when it sees this is FAKE ?

Maybe it's where I live and shoot, but perches like this don't exist. Most of the lichen and moss covered branches are laying on the ground and not sitting pretty up in the air and if there is one or two of them around, nothing sits on them.

On this image, the top branch could go away IMHO, especially whereas everything else in the image is in focus, but the plant matter at the extreme top isn't. That would be OK if there wasn't a total separation between the subject / perch and background.

I agree with Daniel about the lichens / moss possibly being a bit too bright and actually, if the background were toned down a bit the bird would become more prevalent relative to it's surroundings.

I suppose it becomes a question of what one is trying to convey with their images...real nature or fabricated art?

I think this is an important point when setups are used. How can one make it work so that it looks 'natural'?

[Alan Murphy]

Love this shot and happy that I have one exactly like it :-)

[Harshad Barve]

lovely looking bird, nice HA , BG and perch
TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

Very beautiful, nice and sharp, great colors, HA and beautiful perch. BG and perch are a bit bright on my screen. I also agree that it would be nicer to mention setup if setup was used to capture this photo. Either way it is excellent, TFS

[Arthur Morris]

BG and perch are a bit bright on my screen. I also agree that it would be nicer to mention setup if setup was used to capture this photo. Either way it is excellent, TFS

Arash, Nothing looks too bright here on a calibrated monitor with the calibration strip looking perfect.

As it does not look as if Scott edited the text of his original post, I am confused by your last remark since Scott wrote this, "This was taken at a setup that Alan Murphy and I were working on in New Mexico for the different sub-species of Dark-eyed Junco. The bird was coming in for food."

Did I miss something?