Outrigger

[Bill Dix]

This White-breasted Nuthatch is a regular patron of my suet feeder. His usual pose is upside down, but I captured him here stretched out to survey his domain. I believe this may be a young bird; his plumage seems very fresh. I was pleased that the details held pretty well, given relatively slow ss, high ISO and large crop. Mottled light filtered through leaves of nearby tree. C&C appreciated.

D90 | 80-400 VR @ 370mm w/ 25mm ext. tube | Auto ISO @ 1600 | 1/200s @ f/7.1 | -0.7 EV | tripod.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Bill, liked the comp and pose a lot. Beautiful BG. Catches attention quickly. One suggestion is to back off a tad on sharpening. Thx for sharing. Doing small birds with short focal lengths isn't easy.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, I hope he's holding on tight, as that pose looks pretty strenuous. Good detail, and I would try and lighten the eye. Great BG too.

[Dan Busby]

Beautiful Bill. Wish it was mine! Great tension created by the stretched out bird. Dream BG and lovely detail in the bird. I am thinking this looks like an adult in molt.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Really love this one Bill - great details and I love the alert look in the bird's eye. Killer BG as well :)

[Arthur Morris]

Cool pose and grip with that right foot. I am with Kaustubh on the too much sharpening, but just a bit. The BKGR looks a bit uneven in spots; did you do any work there?

[Bill Dix]

Thank you Kaustubh, Stuart, Dan, Nicki and Artie for the comments.

Cool pose and grip with that right foot. I am with Kaustubh on the too much sharpening, but just a bit. The BKGR looks a bit uneven in spots; did you do any work there?

Artie, the bg is the woods behind my house, lit with mottled sun and shade. I evened out a few bright spots with the clone tool at maybe 35% opacity, and then ran a heavy pass of NR which smoothed it out quite a bit. Of course I could have made it uniform, but wanted to leave it somewhat variagated.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for that Bill. A few more strokes with the 35% Clone Stamp Tool on the lightest and darkest areas would likely improve this while still leaving it less than pure color.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks for that Bill. A few more strokes with the 35% Clone Stamp Tool on the lightest and darkest areas would likely improve this while still leaving it less than pure color.

Thanks. On close inspection, I can see a few spots that might have benefitted from a few more strokes. Never quite sure when to stop. (Same, I guess, with the USM :confused:)

[Aidan Briggs]

Good comments above. I like the pose, BG, and exposure. I might back off the contrast on the eye.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pose, angle, eye contact and BG look good. The bird's left foot could need some work, it looks quite overexposed.

[Arthur Morris]

Pose, angle, eye contact and BG look good. The bird's left foot could need some work, it looks quite overexposed.

Axel is 100% correct. It shows the benefit of having lots of folks look at the same image.... Well done Axel.

[Bill Dix]

Pose, angle, eye contact and BG look good. The bird's left foot could need some work, it looks quite overexposed.

Thanks Axel. In the mixed lighting, a patch of sunlight was hitting his foot. I burned it somewhat, but obviously not enough. Thanks for pointing it out; I'll go back and fix the master file (along with smoothing the bg, less sharpening and brighter eye).

[Fabs Forns]

Good capture, the sharpening issue has been covered and so has the light foot.
It must be exciting to photograph this beauty so close to home. Love the pose and look of concentration, thanks for sharing it, Bill.

[Bill Dix]

Good capture, the sharpening issue has been covered and so has the light foot.
It must be exciting to photograph this beauty so close to home. Love the pose and look of concentration, thanks for sharing it, Bill.

Thank you Fabs. Yes, my backyard birds give me a lot of pleasure, on days when I can't get further afield.