Song Sparrow not singing

[Ravi Hirekatur]

Taken at Nine Springs E-way, a county park in Madison, WI
Canon 7D + Canon 400/f4 (rented) + 1.4x TCII, Tripod mounted
F/5.6, 1/640, ISO 500
ACR, CS4 - curves, saturation, 60% of original capture
Brush tool to lighten up darker areas on the top
sharpened with dSLR fractal sharpen
NR with neat image
These birds don't stick around on any perches for more than a few seconds. Windy conditions made it a little difficult to get a good capture with good focus and sharpness. I liked the lens a lot because of its focal length and lightweight, but the images were a little soft(operator error?) and flat, especially with 1.4x TC
C&C appreciated

[jack williamson]

This is very good Ravi. The head angle is not optimal but still ok. You did quite well to get all of the plant in focus at f5.6. The background is really nice although the circular bokeh of that lens is a little distracting-( the yellow circular highlights).

Jack

[pat lillich]

hey Ravi, beautiful perch, colors are wonderful and interesting how small the bird is in comparison - I've used that lens and the captures are a little flat, but bumping up the contrast in LR helps a lot... I think there are some threads on the forum discussing the lens and what you need to do differently post processing with it. Love how light the lens is - but haven't really tried it with a tc. I wonder if cropping some of the stalk off the bottom would focus the image more on the bird?

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ravi, nice sharp capture with excellent exposure and color. A slight head turn your way would have been nice... I'm not crazy about the square crop, I think a vertical would suit the subject better - would crop from the right all the way to the bottom flower.

[Ravi Hirekatur]

Thanks Jack, Pat and Kerry for your comments,

I agree with the head angle and square crop. Here is a vertical crop.

[Kerry Perkins]

Ravi, looks good! That's exactly what I had in mind - I think it makes the image much more appealing and puts more attention on the bird.