Song Sparrow with breakfast

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 VR @ 370mm. ISO 640. f/7.1 @ 1/1000s. 0EV. Tripod.

Shot this several mornings ago, at around 6:20am, 45 minutes after sunrise. It's amazing how quickly the sun can gain strength on a clear morning. Wish the spider's shape were showing more clearly. Question: the default setting for Std. Picture Control in my D90 includes Sharpening at 3, on a scale of 0-9. I've never changed it since I bought the camera. Should I leave this, or does it possibly contribute to noise on a large crop such as this? C&C appreciated.

[Troy Lim]

Bill, very nice capture here. Head turn and food in the beak.
Only nit is the tail crossing with the perch, not much you could do about that. TFS.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Bill, besides the small nit that Troy mentioned the image is strong!Beautiful light,detail,HA,sharp and the bonus catch in the mouth.Well done!

[David Stephens]

Well done. Great light, colors, background and food in the beak.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Bill - not all that familiar with the D90 - Are you shooting RAW?? If so I dont beleive the camera applies those picture controls UNLESS you convert in Capture NX - Think they only apply to JPG!!
Could be wrong!
Like the BG - Bird looks sharp agree with you about the spider - little hard to make out what it is.
Good show:)

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill - not all that familiar with the D90 - Are you shooting RAW?? If so I dont beleive the camera applies those picture controls UNLESS you convert in Capture NX - Think they only apply to JPG!!
Could be wrong!
Like the BG - Bird looks sharp agree with you about the spider - little hard to make out what it is.
Good show:)

Thanks Lance. I am shooting in RAW, and converting with Camera RAW 5.5, which I believe is the Photoshop plug-in (not Capture NX, which I tried and wasn't too crazy about). I do very little in RAW conversion except exposure adjustment when needed. It may well be that the camera settings aren't operative in this case.

[Harold Davis]

i dont think those in-camera settings will have anything to do with the RAW conversion in Ps. like lance said, only for jpegs. nice composition and your self critique is spot on for me. nice job getting a clean bg and i like the look back pose.

[Rachel Hollander]

Bill -Really like this image. Great detail and BG. Nice that the bird's tail is actually in front of the twig. So often they are on the wrong side.

TFS,
Rachel

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Hi Bill, I like this image and the BG is especially nice. I would get rid of most of the left branch so the tail touches nothing. Should be reasonably easy to do in PS.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bill the settings will only affect the way it looks in your LCD which might give you a better look .. not the conversion as noted !

Nothing like good light !! Excellent all around, good pose, bg, exposure and sharp !!

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill the settings will only affect the way it looks in your LCD which might give you a better look .. not the conversion as noted !

Nothing like good light !! Excellent all around, good pose, bg, exposure and sharp !!

Thank you Al.