Eurasian Sparrowhawk

[Ivan Sjögren]

Canon 400D
70-300mm 1:4 - 5.6 IS USM
ISO 400
f/ 4.5
1/100s

Thanks for watching!

[Deborah Hanson]

Good detail in the eye/head. I like the spread of the wing, as if protecting the kill.
The crop seems tight to me.
Looking at the techs, pretty good for 1/100 shutter. You must have been close. I might have tried to get a smaller aperture to get more detail in the wing and tail.

Deb

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Ivan,

I like the action you captured. The feeding behavior is engaging. More depth of flied would be nice to show more of the bird but, this presentation works for me due to the fact that the head has good detail and there is good eye contact.

If this were mine I would darken the bird and tone down the grass just a little. To show you what I mean I made a couple of adjustments in photoshop. I darken the image a little with a curves layer. I thought some of the feathers could go darker still so I burned them some (perhaps too much?). I then desaturated the greens and yellows just a small amount to reduce the brightness of the grass. After theses adjustments I sharpened the image some to bring out some more detail in the head.

If this isn't full frame I would add more room at the bottom as it feel a little tight especially for the bird's left foot.

I enjoyed your image and thanks for sharing.

[Ivan Sjögren]

Thanks Deborah and Phil.

Phil- your repost looks much better. Like you say I would darken the bird a bit less.
But the details of the back and tail is better and also the grass, thanks.