Roseate Sponbill

[Robert Strickland]

an unusual siting in our neck of the woods.

Canon EOS 7D with EF 500 L IS, 1.4 extender installed,
Early Morning, 1/640, f9.0, ISO 400, exposure -2/3

[Jeff Dyck]

Hi Robert,

It is always great to get a rare visitor to your part of the world!

If you are posting in the Avian Critique forum you are asking for an honest critique, so I'll try to give you one. This image has a lot of things that can be improved. Here goes:

- Given your equipment, I would have expected the IQ / visible detail to much better at ISO400 - this leads me to believe that the image was either very heavily cropped, poorly exposed when captured (and attempts were made in post to correct the problem) or both. The lighting looks like it is coming from behind, but it does look somewhat diffused - am I correct in guessing that the shot was underexposed and you tried to recover some detail in post processing?

- The biggest issue I see is the birds head - the complete lack of any detail in the head and lack of reflection or catchlight in the eye makes the image look dead. The blown bill is probably an unfortunate result of the lighting situation.

- I would have a look at the white balance settings used - the bird looks very blue.

- I am a bit puzzled by the crop itself - the bird seems pretty tight in the frame and the wingtips have been clipped (could be mended with some advanced Photoshop techniques). I would like to see more space above, below and to the right of the bird.

- What was your reason for the choice of camera settings? I am a bit puzzled by the choice of f/9 (given the conditions, as you had 1 1/3 stops available to you).

Keep those shots coming.

Regards,
Jeff

[Dave Leroy]

I really like the take off pose and action captured.
Very good points raised by Jeff. Wings look sharp but head seems off.
Would have really liked to have seen this with front lighting rather than back.

Good for you to get an unusual visitor.

[arash_hazeghi]

unfortunately this image does not work. it is completely OOF, dark, noisy and wings are clipped

need to try again I'm sure you will have better opportunities. good luck