House Finch

[alexgwoodruff]

A couple of quiet nights at work had me re-reading Alan Murphy's backyard set up ebook - a thoroughly good read!
I decided to put up a very quick backyard setup... with the intention of prepping it up for 4 days, then spend the morning shooting on Friday.

I was all finished setting up and decided that I would get some luxuries in the hide - cooler box, laptop etc. To see what room was available I put my tripod and camera in place and sat down. Within minutes I had numerous birds coming to the area - unfortunately I had not put out any natural perches, so i crept out (now I know that the cooler is a bad idea, cos I tripped over it), cut a small branch off my garden tree and put it in place, in front of my OOF printed background.

I was very pleased with the result about 5 minutes later... I cannot wait to get out there on Friday and spend some time shooting.


House Finch

EXIF: Nikon D90 with 300mm f4 AFS, 1/800", f8, 300mm, ISO 320, Manual Mode, Pattern Metered.

[Doug West]

I have Alan's e-book also and enjoyed it. Tons of stuff in there. I'm kinda lucky that I don't need a traditional
hide. I cut a hole in my screen and whenever I want, I just open up my window and stick my camera/lens
out the screen. Yes, I'm single :)

The image you have here is sweet. Love the catch light in the eye. Everything looks well exposed and
sharp.

Can't wait to see more.

Doug

[P-A. Fortin]

Very nice image. Sharp, love the pose, nice catchlight and nice background. Some people might not like the small green branches below your perch but I personally don't mind at all.

One improvement that strikes me would be to move the bird a bit to the right. A general rule of thumb is to leave more room in front of the bird than behind it.

[alexgwoodruff]

Thank you both for the encouragement and advice.
P-A, thanks for your tip, much appreciated.

[Ian Cassell]

Well, Alex, I'm impressed that you can survive a hide here in Phoenix (it was 111 deg F today)! Did you air condition it?

Anyway, it paid off. Sharpness is right-on. Good pose and pleasant BG. I actually don't mind the center position here in this vertical comp, but you should try it both ways and see which you prefer. Sometimes I feel that a bird with his head turned like that does very well with a center position.

TFS!

[alexgwoodruff]

Well, Alex, I'm impressed that you can survive a hide here in Phoenix (it was 111 deg F today)! Did you air condition it?

LOL - that's why I tried to get the cooler in there!

I have just spent 4 hours in the hide from 5.30 till 9.30am, and although it read 87F outside I think it was way over 100F inside! In the space of 4 hours I drank 3 liters of water and my shirt is stuck to me!

Now at 9.30 I am going to have a cold shower!

I am hoping I got some nice images from this morning's session, but I really struggled to get anything onto the 'placed' branches - I need to rethink my set up... I only really saw the odd House Finch on the perches.
I think I may have overcomplicated the whole thing and provided far too many alternate places to land.

Many lessons for next time!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Alex, lovely finch! Very nice pose, detail, and composition. As Ian mentioned the centering is pretty ok in vertical crops. To my eye the image seems a bit bright. I would suggest a levels or curves adjustment to bring down the brightness. Thanks for sharing!

[Celeste Painter]

The green of the background is a very nice shade. (I always end up with muddy yellow green)

Nice job.