Introducing.... Song Sparrow

[Dave Blinder]

Verona, New Jersey

I loved the isolation, scale, and monotone background of this one. Reminds me of a celebrity press photo. The background is today's overcast sky.

Image is sharpened for print/archiving, not web (I don't do that). "Steel eye" repaired a bit in photoshop, horizon adjust .5 degrees, background smoothed, NR on background, high pass sharpening, black level raised



Shot in AV Mode, fill flash @ +2/3 via Better Beamer, camera on the ground, 500mm f/4 IS + Canon 1.4tc

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 700 mm
Exposure Bias: +2/3 EV
ISO Speed: 1250

[Arthur Morris]

Nice EXP, BKGR, and SH. Would have greatly preferred the bird in the llc.

[Randy Stout]

Dave:

I agree with Artie's comments. For my take, the image clearly needs to be sharpened to present well on the web. Many folks have variants of their images for different types of output. I would certainly consider web sharpening to show off your images in the best light.

Cheers

Randy

[Tony Whitehead]

Love the colours in the plumage and the way the monotone surrounds set them off. I would desaturate the greenish area in the FG to maximise the effect. Is there a reason you don't sharpen for web? I can't think of any advantage to it and the downside is that your images don't present as well as they could if optimised for the display medium being used.

[Dave Blinder]

Nice EXP, BKGR, and SH. Would have greatly preferred the bird in the llc.

Hi Artie - I was hoping for a good frame of the bird looking forward as I was going for a "vast" look w/ a small bird. Unfortunately it started running towards me and the camera lost focus for a while.

[Dave Blinder]

Randy and Tony - To be honest I'd estimate more than 50% of the images on this forum appear vastly oversharpened to me... as if the bird just emerged from a vat of hair gel or the like. Songbirds are soft and fluffy, not made of plastic. I guess there is a fine line between oversharpened and undersharpened. Feathers that look gelled down are a huge turn off for me, and a reason I barely post or critique in this forum. I do appreciate all of the experience and knowledge found here though.

- Dave