Siberian stonechat male

[RAM MALLYA]

Shot this one in the early morning during the sunrise and the bird was looking at it . Bg is natural.

Shutter speed 1/200
Aperture F/4
ISO 400
Lens 600MM L IS USM
Camera body 1D Mark II N
Hand held from the car
C&C welcome

[Chris Martinez]

Love the smooth transition from top to bottom in the BG. Gorgeous little bird. I like the way the light is hitting the face though it looks like the whites are a little hot on the chest.

[Randy Stout]

Ram:

Good comments from Chris. On my monitor the whites look Ok however.
I like the sunrise in the catchlight.

The side lighting gives a nice sense of texture to the feathers on his head.

I might tone down the brown OOF area at the lower frame edge to try and reduce its impact.

Cheers

Randy

[Richard Pittam]

a lovely shot and a really natural/subtle catchlight in the eye.

[Marina Scarr]

You did well with exposure and you have a great background here. Your bird is nice and sharp. I find the front OOF part of the perch a bit distracting in a perfect world but well done!

[Dave McGowen]

I really like the nice soft light and the backgound is fantastic.

[Craig Brelsford]

Ram, nice shot of a lovable Eurasian species. The stonechat is gazing downward, which would have led me to place the bird a little higher in the frame, giving him something to look into. However, it's possible that the perch would have become unacceptably prominent in that case. My take, therefore, on the shot is that it communicates two things: the calm beauty of a stonechat at sunrise, plus the photographer's struggle to work around a problematic perch.