All alone

[wendell westfall]

D90 70-200VR+2X@400 1/1250 f/5.6 ISO400 0EV handheld

I found this crow last week, all alone; I usually see them in a group. But I am also almost always unsuccessful in getting close enough for a decent photo . . . this one is cropped over 50%. I cloned out a branch in front of the bird, otherwise very few adjustments were made.

Wendell

[Chris Baker]

Hi Wendell,

Nice image, well presented. Yeah, sounds just like our crows, see them everywhere but dont let you anywhere near them. If it were mine I'd lose the foliage top left and possibly the rearmost OOF twig, but that's down to individual taste.

Regards CB

[Julie Brown]

I agree with Chris-you could easily clone out the foliage at top left. It is not connected to anything in the rest of the image. Nice exposure.

[wendell westfall]

Chris and Julie, thanks for looking . . . the foliage in the top left will go . . .

[jack williamson]

Hi Wendell, I agree with the Chris and Julie about the cloning. I have had no luck getting close to a crow

and I know it is a tough exposure, you have captured the blacks pretty well here. I would like to see a

little more light on the face.

Jack

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Wendell, I agree with the cloning away of the foliage. Easy fix. As for the head angle and obscuring of the tail, these are more problematic to me. Would be better to wait for an opportunity to capture this bird with less foliage around. I'm a little surprised at comments about getting close to these birds, as they seem to be the most common birds around, at least where I live. If you visit a busy campground with nice trees nearby you almost can't avoid seeing these birds in numbers. Capturing the blacks properly is the biggest challenge I find. You did a good job of that in this one, but it appears that your camera focused on the branches closer to the camera and the crow is not sharp.

[wendell westfall]

I see your point about focus, Kerry. I had not noticed.

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendell, much to our chagrin the camera picks twigs over birds so many times...