Hey! I'm talking to you!

[Julie Brown]

Canon 40D, 300mm f4L IS + 1.4X TC (672mm), ISO 500, 1/1600 @ f5.6, +2/3 EV, Tv, pattern metering, HH

Lightroom 2.6
cropped about 20%
set black and white points
enhanced clarity and vibrance
adjustment brush: selective sharpening and lightening of eyes
post-crop vignette
Nik software: polarizer and GND in ColorEfex Pro; NR Dfine 2.0; Sharpener Pro

I shot this image at Ottawa NWR during the middle of the afternoon while watching these two tree swallows try to stay on top of a next box in 50mph wind. I thought this one was pretty amusing.:)

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great interaction, these guys give lots of opportunities for action shots.
The sun here was in front of you, in this case you should have used
lots of flash here. That would have given more 'life' to the eyes and the
IQ would be much better.

[Scott Frye]

I also would like to see the eyes -- but a fun picture to look at -- nice to laugh once in awhile

[Julie Brown]

Thanks for the comments Ilija and Scott. Its too bad the eyes are underexposed. When I saw these birds I just started shooting, and did not think to use the pop-up flash. I will try to keep that in mind for next time!

[Arthur Morris]

Julie, If you tape an attractive perch or two to the nest box or the pole and move around to the sunny side of the perch you can make some wonderful images. The birds are usually quite tame as long as you remain still.

[Julie Brown]

Thank you for the suggestion, Artie. I will give this a try in my yard.

[Arthur Morris]

Good luck. It usually works well with this species.