White-crowned Sparrow

[Karl Egressy]

Just came home from Algonquin. The area had very little bird activity to my surprise.
I shouldn't have been surprised as every area I have been visiting since the late nineties has less and less birds every year.
It is scary.
I darkened the broken off part of the snag, brightened the eye, removed the catch light put in by the flash.
I also neutralized the magenta cast.
Thanks for looking.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Manual Exposure
Tv 1/200
Av 5.0
ISO 640
EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Flash setting Manual Flash

[Stu Bowie]

Karl, this little guy has quite a few different details and colours on him, all going in different directions. I do like the perch he's perched on, but find the OOF perch competing with the sparrow. Moving to your right may have helped.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the SH and the image design. Working at such close range I would have toned down the flash a bunch as the bird looks too separated from the BKGR and thus a bit too sharp. At very close range I would advise going -3 on the flash and removing the Better Beamer to avoid the over-flashed look.

[Karl Egressy]

Thanks Atie.
Good advice on the flash.
Do it most of the times for close shooting (between 5-8 meters) but keep forgetting it other times.
I set the flash manually. The camera showed 8m therefore I set the bar on the flash to 2m. (1/64 if I recall correct)
If I had removed ( had remebered) the BB the setting would have been 4m.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good looking individual, and I like the be\reast feathers blown by the wind. I'm not crazy about the OOF part of the perch in the BG, but I do like the rest of the BG (althought the lighter part directly behind the face catches my attention). Good advice re: flash.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Atie.
Good advice on the flash.
Do it most of the times for close shooting (between 5-8 meters) but keep forgetting it other times.
I set the flash manually. The camera showed 8m therefore I set the bar on the flash to 2m. (1/64 if I recall correct)
If I had removed ( had remebered) the BB the setting would have been 4m.

YAW. When trying to get a nice fill flash look it is OK by me to try to see the effect of the flash on the LCD on the back of the camera.... That is the only time I recommend doing so.

[Paul Guris]

I generally like the image a lot, but there is something about the mantle and wing coverts that looks very unnatural to me. In fact it caught my eye almost instantly. The dark/light changes in these areas looks muddy and soft, and the darker feathers look washed out. This is not at all what I expect to see on this bird in the field. White-crowned is an extremely crisp, clean, contrasty bird even as an immature which is what makes it one of my favorite sparrows. If these areas could be made cleaner and crisper, the photo would work for me.