Song thrush in the snow

[Roy Churchill]

Not sure about the composition and the top right green area - what do you think?

Camera: 7D
Lens: 300/2.8 + 1.4tc
Shutter Speed: 1/400
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 400
Metering Method: Manual
Support: Hand held but resting on window ledge

[jack williamson]

The bird looks excellent but the top right is very distracting

[Roy Churchill]

The bird looks excellent but the top right is very distracting

Yep, I was thinking about cloning it out with more snow (I would actually slice up and use the patch tool for a better blend)

[pat lillich]

hey Roy, I agree with Jack - would like to see how your cloning idea looks. beautiful bird.

[Dave Leroy]

A very pretty looking bird.

I like the nice attentive pose.

I might try the clone tool at a reduced opacity some how. The green bg as it is does take away from the bird, but I think a completely white bg may appear quite flat. You might try some mixing and matching off green and white a bit with no definite boundary.

A crop off left would also take away some of the flat bg.

Dave

[Roy Churchill]

A very pretty looking bird.

I like the nice attentive pose.

I might try the clone tool at a reduced opacity some how. The green bg as it is does take away from the bird, but I think a completely white bg may appear quite flat. You might try some mixing and matching off green and white a bit with no definite boundary.

A crop off left would also take away some of the flat bg.

Dave

Hi Dave, you are right, I have tried cloning and although it blends in quite well the image does look somewhat flat with it being completely white, it just does not look right to me - I will play around some more.

[Roy Churchill]

Of course one could always go the whole hog and plonk it on a completely different BG - this is just a quick and crude play around on a dull and dismal day here in the UK (only joking guys :) )

[Paul Guris]

First, great job on nailing the exposure of a brown bird in snow. Second, I actually think both re-posts work really well. They evoke two very different feelings. It just depends upon which you prefer.

[John Chardine]

Nice reposts Roy. The second one is quite convincing! Nice pose and head angle. I like lighter tonality of the bird in the first and second reposts compared to the OP. I like the room on the right in the OP but I would take some away from the left. In the second repost I think the crop is too tight to the tail on the right.

I've heard this species is in significant decline in the UK. When I grew up there in the 1950 and 60s it was a very common garden bird.

[Roy Churchill]

Nice reposts Roy. The second one is quite convincing! Nice pose and head angle. I like lighter tonality of the bird in the first and second reposts compared to the OP. I like the room on the right in the OP but I would take some away from the left. In the second repost I think the crop is too tight to the tail on the right.

I've heard this species is in significant decline in the UK. When I grew up there in the 1950 and 60s it was a very common garden bird.

Thanks for commenting John, I agree about the second repost - I boob by using a 900 pixel BG when the original was 1000 pixels, mind you I could always add some canvas to the right.

You are right about the Song thrushes decline, they were 'ten a penny' when I was a kid but are fairly rare nowadays.

[Roy Churchill]

First, great job on nailing the exposure of a brown bird in snow. Second, I actually think both re-posts work really well. They evoke two very different feelings. It just depends upon which you prefer.

Thanks for you comments Paul. I think I prefer the second repost but with a bit more added to the right hand side.