White-throated Sparrow

[Peter Farrell]

My first post. (Hope I got it right)


Sony A700, Sigma 70-200 @200mm, f8, 1/125, iso800
Taken in Willimsburg, VA 12/20/09

[Randy Stout]

Peter:

A big welcome to BPN. It is a great place to learn.
You did well getting a pretty clean shot at him in a cluttered environment.

The exposure is just a bit much on the whites, esp. under the beak.

You have oversharpened it a bit, as I am seeing some jagged lines along wing and tail feathers.

Look forward to more.

Again, welcome on board!

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Welcome. Randy has covered all of the important points. Are you using RAW capture?

[Juan Aragonés]

Wellcome on board. I agree with Randy´s comments and I would add that the bird is a bit centered in the frame to my taste. Keep them coming :)

[Peter Farrell]

Thank you for the comments, very helpful.
Arthur, I do shoot raw images and pp in Elements 5.
Juan, I sell 5x7 matted prints of my bird photography so I tend to crop and center the image.
I will re-process this image and re-post it later.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Pete. Do you convert in ACR? (I am not at all familiar with E5.)

[Peter Farrell]

Thanks Pete. Do you convert in ACR? (I am not at all familiar with E5.)

Arthur,
I convert in the raw converter within Elements 5. I don't think it is the same as ACR. I know more about taking the images than I do about processing them.
Here is a re-processed version of the image taking into account the previous comments. The wider crop makes it look too busy IMHO.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Peter. I was asking about the conversion process because the whites on the neck in the original post look over-exposed. They look better here. As Randy mentioned, the image is quite cluttered. This species comes readily to feeders in winter. If you set up an attractive perch, you can control the clutter. Above is a recent example. You can learn the basics of setting up perches at your feeder in the Practicalities chapter of ABP II (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/ca....aspx?catid=32) and more sophisticated techniques in Alan Murphy's Guide to Songbird Set-up Photography here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/ca....aspx?catid=33.

[Peter Farrell]

Thank you Arthur. I think I am going to like this web site. In just two days I have learned a few very helpful things. I recieved the Sony 70-400G this morning as a Christmas present and am very excited as this is my first real high quality glass.
Peter

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. Happy holiday and good luck with your new lens. Remember the first rule: don't drop it!