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Thread: Townsend's Warbler, ready for spring

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    Default Townsend's Warbler, ready for spring

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    Several Townsend's Warblers have been spending the winter at my suet feeders. This one is starting to look like he is ready to leave his winter home and look for a mate. It has been very dark and rainy here and I was using flash but for this shot it did not fire. I was surprised that it came out this good. I wish the tail was sharp and that I had not taken him in the middle.

    Nikon D3S, 500mm f4 plus 1.4 converter
    ISO 800, f8, 1/250sec
    Manual exposure

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    Fine capture and great looking perch but wish the perch was a little lighter.

    Carmelo

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    BPN Viewer Dave Leroy's Avatar
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    I am going the other way from Carmelo and really like the nice contrast with dark perch and bird with a lighter bg. Perhaps a bit brighter but still very nice. I assume from your comment about being too centered that you prefer not to crop.

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    I also think the perch is very nice, excellent exposure on the Warbler,
    I also like the comp, Well done.
    Dan Kearl

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    Laurie! This is lovely! Truly!

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    Hi Laurie, Welcome. You did pretty well here with a lovely species. I like the perch though it looks as if the dark shadows need to be opened up if possible. And I am not a big fan of the clump in the upper left corner....

    Note to all: this bird is NOT centered. There is twice as much room from the tail to the frame edge than from the bill tip to the frame edge. None-the-less a bit of cropping could improve the composition.

    The biggest problem for me (who has zero images of this species ) is that the bird is angled towards us; closer to parallel to the back of the camera is generally nicer with warblers as we get a much better view of the body. The eye and face are very sharp and could go a bit lighter.

    Do you know if this is a sub-adult male?
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    Ran a Linear Burn on the brightest parts of the perch, lightened the face with Tim Grey Dodge and Burn, and cropped to improve the composition.
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    Nice pose with nice detail on the bird and foot position. Agree about the darkness in the perch. Artie's repost has helped a bit .Also his way of expalining the cenetered thing has helped me with my compositions by looking at the tail to edge/ bill to edge.

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    I do like the perch lighter, thank you Artie. I cropped the photo to 8x10 which moved it over a bit from the original which was in the middle. It is hard to get them as they are fast and I never know which direction they are going next so spend all of my time moving the focus point. This is a male, much more black (instead of brown) and the black neck ring is only on the males. I have other males that look more like sub-adults and have had a female this year but she left in January. This is the first year that they have been regulars at my feeders. Usually just see them a few times a winter.

    Thank you all for your comments and help.

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    Good to have them around. Nice setup and image, Laurie.

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    Quote Originally Posted by laurie golden View Post
    I do like the perch lighter, thank you Artie. I cropped the photo to 8x10 which moved it over a bit from the original which was in the middle. It is hard to get them as they are fast and I never know which direction they are going next so spend all of my time moving the focus point. This is a male, much more black (instead of brown) and the black neck ring is only on the males. I have other males that look more like sub-adults and have had a female this year but she left in January. This is the first year that they have been regulars at my feeders. Usually just see them a few times a winter. Thank you all for your comments and help.
    YAW. I like 3X2 most of the time :). I don't have a book handy; it does not look like a full breeding plumage male.... I actually made the perch darker--at least the light areas--and the face of the bird lighter.
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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    ps: I am speaking at the Tualatin River Bird Festival in May; hope to see you there.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Lovely image to start of with, nice perch and a great specimen. :) Artie's crop looks great.

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    Laurie, excellent shot. I absolutely dont mind the tail out of DOF. the perch is sharp...so are the bill and the feet. That, to me, is good enough DOF coverage for a bird that is angled this way. To get tail sharper you'd have had to stop down much more and that could have spoiled the BG. I'd say a very good call on the f-stop.

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    I like the pose, perch, yellow feet and BG. Well done Laurie!

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