Blue Tit

[Jonathan Ashton]

Camera Model Canon EOS 7D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/640
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.5
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation -2/3
ISO Speed 800
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Flash On
Flash Type External E-TTL
E-TTL II flash metering Evaluative flash metering
Flash Exposure Compensation -1 1/3
Shutter curtain sync Hi-speed
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
AF area select mode AF Point expansion
Picture Style Standard

Another shot from my garden hide. Sunflower seeds were in a feeder just a couple of inches away from the tip of the perch, all C &C welcome.

[Bill Dix]

I think you've cornered the market on these little guys. Beautiful bird, perch, background, colors. The eye and bill may be just a bit soft compared to the lovely detail of the body.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lovely bird, thin moss-covered perch, and BG. The tip of the perch has some odd artefacts to it as if some post-processing was done to remove something (feeder?)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful subject and great look back pose. Love the perch and BG as well. Might crop just a bit tighter if it were mine.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the feed back i will bare in mind a possible crop.
Bill & Dan you guys don't miss much do you?
Well spotted Bill I agree, I have checked out the focus point - it was under the eye on the cheek at the junction of the white and darker plumage (not too surprising really - big contrast there).
Just for curiosity I had been playing around with the focus options. For Images like this from now on I will stick with one focus point... on the eye.
Dan the tip of the twig was a bit messy and OOF and wandered up to the edge of the frame - on reflection I should have done a better job of cloning.
i will make sure the next one is bang on focus and no clone errors!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good plan Jonathan!

P.S. On second look the image would have benefitted with a slightly better HA. It's not bad as is, but would be even better swung a bit more towards us.

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely colours on the little guy, and your moss covered perch adds so much interest. The bird stands out nicely against the darker BG.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Good plan Jonathan!

P.S. On second look the image would have benefitted with a slightly better HA. It's not bad as is, but would be even better swung a bit more towards us.

I agree Daniel but these images are ften a compromise, to get a better head angle I usually have to angle the perch, when i do this part of the perch goes out of focus and sometimes becomes a distraction. if I have the perch parallel to the camera I can often get the head and eye sharp ... but not the tail.. hopefully there is a bit of brighter weather coming and I can get down to 5.6 or 8. ..........fingers crossed

[Charles Scheffold]

Love the contrast between the bird and the background. The colors are beautiful. Wishing for a slightly more intimate head angle.

Charles

[Pieter de Waal]

Nicely exposed and sharp bird with great background Jonathan and love the perch. Thanks for the pointers on perch angle, have been experimenting with perch setups and your observations will help.

[James Salywoda]

Awesome great pose,colors and bg nicely done Jonathan.