Hi Dave, I like this very much. Pose is great and BG too. I like the details in the breast feathers. The muted BG colors compliment the Northern Shrike. I like the perch and the added moss as well.
Do you have many Shrikes? I am here in CT and they have just about disappeared. There are a few nests that are being monitored. In the same article they referred to Shrikes as birds that would often be perched on bob wire fencing and how they would "skewer" their prey. All is fair in love and nature...
Normally I would see several at various times during the winter months. I guess they must come down out of the interior of BC to the coast along with hawks and owls. We don't get a lot of frost or snow so food is more available for them. I am not sure of the total numbers nor how the population is doing generally.
I do know that Short-eared Owls have become much less common. It is now a treat to see them and mentioned in the local rare bird alert. Habitat loss I suppose as well as perhaps lots of GBH's which may also feed on some of the same winter food supplies.
Agree with you that it does hold up fairly well despite your big crop. Personally I would darken it just a tad, mostly for enhancing the colors for my taste
Oh, the short-eared owls did show up later in the afternoon. So did the hawk owl at its usual place in case you're interested.
Good detail. Like the pose BG matches well. I agree would darken slightly. I wonder about removing the out of focus stump behind the tail. Overall very good.
Hi Dave; Consensus seems to be darken a little . . . little. I saw this merthod in a Amoruso post i like very much for "little"
First open in PS, I use CS5. I always press CTRL + J so I have copy in Layers. Then click Channels>
Hold down CTRL & double click on RGB Channel (Brightness will show with marching ants) In Layer copy click mask icon on bottom line (Rectangle with hole) Then change Normal to Multiply. I stopped there, however if it is too dark you can lower the opacity.
I like this much better, and thanks to you Gus for that info. Sure, I'd vote for the out of focus stump to be removed if that is something you'd consider. I like your image alot. Ann
Lovely image, Dave. I don't think I've ever seen a shrike before and the details of the breast feathers are beautiful! This image really did hold up well - something the 7D is known for.
I like your BG - might darken it just a tiny bit more but not much - just enough to put a little more separation between the bird and the BG. I would definitely take out the OOF stump which would be a fairly easy fix. The overall comp and crop suit the image very well. You got a great pose and HA from this one!
I like the bird's perch and out of focus background, but since you have more "canvas" I suggest slightly shift the framing such that bird is moved to the left as the perch's angle conveys a sense to the left however the bird stops the compositional flow by being in the middle.
Northern Shrike
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