Snow Bunting

[Dave Leroy]

This was taken a few weeks ago and is a larger crop than i normally do.

The bird was the only one around and quite skittish, so I did not want to bother it.

50D, 500mm, 1/400, f/4, Av +1 1/3, ISO800.

I also cleaned up the bill and lightened the eye.

A better pose with all of the feet showing would have been nice. Next time perhaps.

Dave

[Brendan Dozier]

Real nice, love the clarity, BG, detail and colors on bird.

[Peter Farrell]

I love the soft colors of the BG. Great detail, sharpness and HA on the bird. I agree with your comment about the feet. I really like this one!
Best wishes for the New year.
Peter

[pat lillich]

lovely sharpness and detail - i hear you about the feet, but I kind of like those 2 back toes showing. that background is lovely...

[Sid Garige]

Very nice exposure and eye contact Dave.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Very Good image Dave. Exposure, detail, background, composition, colors, all top notch. What I am wondering about is how large a crop it was; I see no evidence of image degredation due to excessive cropping , so I would surmise not more than 50%. Of course you have a 15MP sensor, so perhaps you can crop more? regards~Bill

[Julie Kenward]

Really beautiful, Dave. Sometimes it all comes together - the pose, the HA, the BG, the soft light - this really is exquisite. I know you'd like to see more of the feet but I really think the position here is out of the ordinary and raises it up instead of pulling it down. That little tuft of belly fur that's crawling over the wing is sweet as well. No excuses - print it!

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks everyone and I am glad that you liked it.

William, I would say it is about 35 to 40% of full frame.

I agree it turned out quite well and at 800ISO as well on the 50D.
I think the high contrast tail and wing feathers have helped with the appearance of sharpness. I think it is on the edge of degradation on some of the finer feather details which are more apparent on my larger TIFF file.

I am quite happy with it though. My only decent photo of a Bunting!!

Dave

[Rob Mckenzie]

WOW!! Love it!! I have nothing else to say - sorry, I know this is a critique forum.

[Bill Stubbs]

Dave, I don't see anything not to like; angle, focus and exposure are all there. I don't see any image degradation at all at this size. Only one nit-picking point; I do see what appears to be one tiny white spot on the top of the bird's crown (about in line with the back of the eye). Touch that up and print it.