This image was made in the late afternoon. As the light waned, this nuthatch landed. It stayed longer than I expected enabling me to snap several photos. This one is my favorite pose even though the light is almost gone. Unfortunatly, this photo was under exposed because of the lack of light, so I had to push it in Lightroom. As a result, there is some noise in the picture.
1/500 sec
f/8
ISO 640
Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 with 2x converter @ 500mm
Nikon D70s
I like the out-of-focus background and the perch. The noise visible in the background doesn't bother me.
A few suggestions:
1. The photo would be stronger if the nuthatch wasn't so nearly dead-centre. Did you crop this or is this what you have?
2. I think the bird would also be more interesting if it had turned its head a bit towards you.
3. I may be wrong but I think the image lacks sharpness. There is a bit of a catch-light in the eye but it isn't sharp. The plumage and looks a little blurred. How were you supporting the camera?
Overall a nice photo. I like the halo effect with the birds head over a lighter section of sky and the general position of the bird. A little selective noise reduction could help the darker areas. As mentioned, a little more head tilt and a slightly off-center crop would push this up the next notch. On my monitor, the sharpness looks fine.
Great find, I like these little nuthatches. In addition to the other suggestions I would apply NR on the BG and make the BG a bit darker. I also wish for a bit wider DOF to have the entire bird in focus. If you have I would go for a wider crop.
I like the close up view of this tiny bird. The others have covered the nits already. You may want to try slecting and blurring the bg to get rid of the bg noise.
Nits already covered. I selected the bright areas with a Magic Wand. Pasted them to a new Layer (CTRL + J), changed the blend mode to Multiply. Selected BG with Magic Wand. Ran NR on just BG.
Red breasted nuthatch
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