Greetings folks,
I had a fine time with a few song sparrows on a scenic hill the other night. This picture was taken with the Canon 7D and 200mm f2.8L + 1.4: a focal length of 280mm. iso400, 1/2000, f4. This is the full-frame capture. As always, I'll be glad to hear your ideas and suggestions. Many thanks in advance for your visual perusal...
Hi Jack, good singing pose, and the little guy is nice and sharp. I really like the colours in the image, and wonder if you could have maybe shot from a slightly higher angle, as Im finding the OOF flower in the FG just below the belly a touch distracting. Cropping from the left and top wont harm the image either.
Stuart, hello. I took many pictures from all sorts of angles but in all cases that o.o.f. dame's rocket was under my friend's belly. Darts and dragons! While shooting the bird I was hoping the wind would blow those o.o.f flowers out of the way, but I was luckless. The wind was blowing nicely on the hill and moving the flowers around and indeed I do have shots from higher angles, lower angles, all sorts of things, but this particular pic has the colors that appeal to me the most. I especially enjoy the blues in the upper left. One of the many joys of nature photography is that mild frustration which mingles so sweetly with love-of-nature and an opportunity's excitement...these are the sorts of things that are hard to find in the rest of life, when one is running errands or driving in a car or chopping vegetables. It's the rare and blessed mixture that makes nature photography so popular among a cross-section of humans...
Last edited by Jack Breakfast; 06-03-2012 at 11:41 AM.
I do like the pastel color tones, a slight shame about the oof flowers, cropped a little more may draw more attention to the bird, but as you say the powder blue colors would be a shame to lose.....nicely done overall
Thanks, folks...the flowers in question are only a minor detraction to my eye but if I were a magical man I'd have obliterated them in the first place...perhaps I'll post something else from the same day that doesn't have those flowers in the mix...or perhaps it's better only to move on with my life. The sun is shining at last!
ALSO: Phil, your profile picture or avatar picture (I don't know the proper name for this thing) is fun and silly! I like it so much!
Jack, it's a fun and whimsical image. What about playing with some alternative treatments? I could see you selecting everything but the bird and blurring it....but I'm sure your imagination could come up with something better.