Setup. Nikon D700, 300mm f2.8, 1.4tc, tripod. 1/250, f7.1, ISO 640, AP priority, -2/3 ev. Adj wb, exp, blacks, contrast in acr. Small midtone levels on the bird, sat boost on the bird, S/H, usm in cs3. NR on BG, cleaned up beak, cloned away some raindrops in bg, toned down perch, 50% crop. 11:06 A.M.
Nice shot Jack. I'm a-liken the lichen between the branches that balances the image. I also like the BG, the open beak & the HA. I would prefer more space on the right & less on the left.
Jack, first off.. I'm still trying to figure out your avatar Are you looking in a mirror?
Exposure, colors and detail looks good to me, I would take some off the left and add some to the right.. I normally like the bird looking into some canvas, just my 2 cents and I'm not worth much.
Nice image Jack. I like the exposure and open beak. For me the lichen is a little too big for the bird. Do you use a blind to get close to your set-ups?
Thanks guys. I can see your point about the crop. Chad I placed a mirror in the woods and with timer on camera I went back and forth until I got it right. You can create some really neat images with a mirror in the woods if you set up the mirror just right and get the camera angle just right so as not to see the mirror edges.
Jim I was posting as you were. I used a blind at first but the birds that visit the feeders have become quite accustomed to me so now I don't use one. I have two titmice that will feed out of my hand and one of them sometimes comes and pecks on the window and I will go out and give him a peanut. I have not been doing this bird photography for long and I am learning to refine perches and shooting techniques because you fine people give good advice and I appreciate it.
Well exposed with a beautiful BG. I would crop from the left up to the "stuff" on the branch. I find the branch sticking up extremely distracting b/c it's so big. Would have liked to see more HA.
Jack, good detail on the sparrow, with lovely colours. The placement of the sparrow has been mentioned, but I think most folk had this in mind. I also cleaned up a little of the perch.
Excellent pose and BG but bird looks a bit on the bright side to me.
If the perch was extremely attractive, I think your out of the box composition would have worked well.
But given what you had to work with, a tighter and more conventional comp might be the way to go.
I like the image - the little sparrow is very well photographed - exposure and sharpness. PP looks good too. I also like the composition - I feel there is enough space for the bird to look into, yet by being limited the composition seems to me to be more dynamic - I feel the sparrow is almost ready to hop off the branch.
Understand where Stuart is coming from, but IMSHO, that crop loses the dynamism and it becomes just a bird on a stick.