Townsend's Solitaire

[Steven Grogger]

I took this at Castlewood Canyon State Park in Colorado on a overcast afternoon last weekend. The bird stayed for a pose and seemed very interested in finding just the right juniper berry. I adjusted contrast, brightness and sharpened.

Camera: Canon 50D
F-stop: F/5.6
ISO: 100
Focal length: 400mm
Metering Mode: Evaluative

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Steven, I'm going to get the head angle citation over with right now... A head turn in your direction would make this a much stronger image as the head is turned away from the camera. Ok, we did that. You can pay your fine online or mail directly to me.

You captured a nice pose and placed your bird nicely in the frame; the berry is a great bonus! I might take a slice off the top, probably at the top of the first berries. The background is nice and blurred out, might be just a tad bright compared to the bird. This can usually be helped out with a simple levels adjustment. Adding a bit of saturation would make the bird pop a bit from the bg also.

Good capture and presentation, keep them coming!

[Dawn Currie]

I know how uncooperative birds are regarding head angle-if only they'd take direction). I really like the soft color with the bird and junniper berries, it gives this shot a special feel.

[John Chardine]

Hi Steven- This is a bird I want to see someday. They occasionally come east but not very often. Overall I love the the colour tones and layout of the image. The image is nice and sharp. The contrast could be boosted a bit. I agree with Kerry about the head angle (although these days it seems to be a sore point!). Anyway very well done on this one.

[Steven Grogger]

Thank you all for the comments. I did have a shot with a better head angle but with no berry. I added slightly more contrast to the re-post. Belive the bird does stand out a little better.

[Steven Grogger]

Sorry... uploaded the original. This is the picture with more contrast.