Purple Finch

[Randy Stout]

This nice purple finch was sitting in my viburnum bush in my backyard.

A bit tousled from the wind.

D300 500mm f/4 with 25mm tube ISO 800 1/1000s f/6.3

Gitzo, Wimberley

Post: PS CS4 20%crop, levels, curves, selective sharpen

Advice always appreciated.

Happy New Years

Randy

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Great looking finch! thanks for sharing. If anything, I would have preferred lower shooting angle.
Lovely BG.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

[Peter Farrell]

Beautiful image, great pose and perch, nice BG.
Thanks for sharing, HNY
Peter

[kenn threed]

A lovely shot Randy, with great exposure, detail, and bg.

But this seems to be a House Finch to me... what makes you think it's a Purple Finch?

Kenn

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Good-looking specimen. I like the light, sharpness and eye contact and only wish for a lower angle. I agree with Kenn, it looks like a House Finch to me.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the details and perch in this one. I agree that a lower angle would be nice but sometimes that isn't possible. Nice image Randy.

[Steve Canuel]

Handsome fella. Angle is a bit steep. Maybe take a little off the bottom and move it to the top?

[Aidan Briggs]

Purple Finches are among my favorite birds, but I agree that this is a House Finch. There is too much streaking, and the bill shape is a bit different from that of a Purple Finch. Nice eye contact, BG, and exposure. I just wish the angle wasn't as steep

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the help with the ID.

I looked at two different field guides, but wasn't certain. The streaking on the sides seemed less pronounced than the pictures I had of the house finch, and the bill seemed a bit heavier too.

The shooting angle was steep, but as they got lower, the backgrounds became very cluttered. This was on a native bush, not a setup.

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice one Randy. I like the simple comp and the hint of cloud in the BG. There is a bit of smudging (or clone mark?) directly below the tail.

Happy New Year to you too!!

[Daniel Belasco]

Very nice image.
The focus is off probably because of the wing you mentioned. I think you oversharpened at little, especially the branch.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, I like the colours, and this is really sharp. Although no one has mentioned it, I feel the finch is leaning slightly to the left, thus a slight CW rotation is needed. I could be wrong.

[Paul Kusmin]

Really nice Randy.
It is of course a House finch, easy enough to confuse the two sometimes.
While the bird may be positioned a bit too high in comp i like the detail, colours and BG a lot.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very beautiful Randy, everything nicely done. TFS and happy new year

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, gentle but honest... I love the light, the sky-BKGR, and the cute little feet but after that this one is all downhill for me. Sharpest focus is on the breast and though the eye is acceptably sharp the feathers on the top of the head seem not even close to sharp from here. In part possibly because of the wind, and in part because the top of the head is farther from the plane of focus than the eye.... The perch would be much better without the three 3/4 inch nubs.... And the steep angle has already been mentioned as a negative.

Sometimes I feel like the executioner :)

BTW, the bird looks red not purple to me :) (That's why I like caps for a bird's proper name: Purple Finch, or House Finch.) Have a great 2010. And thanks for your excellent work here as a moderator.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

I went back and checked the focus point indicator in the Nikon View software.

The focus bracket surrounded the eye. I have to assume the relative sharpness difference comes from the feathers being windblown, or the camera isn't actually focusing where it says it is.

Interesting, will have to do some tests.

Thanks for the honest input.

Randy