Great Tit

[Jonathan Ashton]

Taken from my hide:

Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Tripod Mongoose head
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.7
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/500
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation -1/3
ISO Speed 200
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Flash Off
AF Mode One-Shot AF

All comments welcome.

[Harshad Barve]

excellent look back pose , nice compo and details , Sharpness and BG looking good , all in all excellent image
TFS

[Harshad Barve]

ps , BTW this is nearly similar to green backed tit found in Northern part of India

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Good-looking specimen, sharpness and BG. I might have stopped down a bit more and wish the shadow on the perch at the right side were not there.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Jonathan, a beautiful pose this guy has given you here. Perfect head turn for this back view. I always have a soft spot for perfect over the shoulder poses - I especially enjoy the crossed wingtips we see in these types of images. Good perch, although pointing your camera left a wee bit more would have prevented it from being clipped by the frame's edge.

[Ofer Levy]

Very nice! I like the perch! Would crop a tiny bit off the top to make it a standard 2:3 horizontal. Would try to get rid of the halo around the perch at the RHS and slightly tone down the white on the cheek.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Beautiful shot. Loved the pose. Sharpness is excellent. I usually like shallow DOF shots a lot but for this one, I'll second Axel's suggestion of stopping down and increasing the ISO. OOF tail looks good when it is away from the camera but not so much when it is closer. The perch is very nice and it being sharp would have rocked a lot.

Having said all that, I will say again that I liked this a lot.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the feedback everyone - much appreciated, here is a rework using your comments - what d'ya reckon?:)

[Ofer Levy]

You repost is an improvement. Here is another version with the following changes to the original:
I am working with an uncalibrated Apple Cinema Display that I just bought so I hope I got it right....:confused:

Cropped off the top and added to the left and bottom to get a more standard horizontal.
Slight general levels adjustment then slectively tonning down the white.
Fixing the halo on the RHS of the perch.
Sligthly reducing brightness.
Cheers,
Ofer ;)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the re work Ofer - much appreciated, I think it is a significant improvement. Could you explain please how you selectively toned down the whites - did you sue the Burn tool for example? or perhaps Shadows/Highlights? I also note you have retained the whiteness (if there is such a word) did you select the white balance tool at some point or not?

[Ofer Levy]

Thanks for the re work Ofer - much appreciated, I think it is a significant improvement. Could you explain please how you selectively toned down the whites - did you sue the Burn tool for example? or perhaps Shadows/Highlights? I also note you have retained the whiteness (if there is such a word) did you select the white balance tool at some point or not?

Hi Jonathan. My pleasure!
To selectively tone down the white I made a copy layer, then adjusted the LEVELS to get the desired white. Then created a LAYER MASK and chose HIDE ALL. Using the brush tool I then revealed only the adjusted white.
Didn't use any of the following - S/H, Burn Tool nor the white balance tool for the white.
Cheers,

Ofer ;)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jonathan. My pleasure!
To selectively tone down the white I made a copy layer, then adjusted the LEVELS to get the desired white. Then created a LAYER MASK and chose HIDE ALL. Using the brush tool I then revealed only the adjusted white.
Didn't use any of the following - S/H, Burn Tool nor the white balance tool for the white.
Cheers,

Ofer ;)

Thanks Ofer I understand perfectly - will remember to try this in future.