Song Sparrow (AZ)

I'm sure that there is a good technical/artistic reason for the choice, but why F/9? Good photo, BTW, well up to your usual standards.

I'm sure that there is a good technical/artistic reason for the choice, but why F/9?

Because its between f/8 and f/11? :-)

Seriously: because I wanted more DOF than my usual wide open f/5.6 would provide, but there wasn't enough light to stop down any more and still keep the shutter speed high enough.

The exact f-number is meaningless to me - I make my decision based on what I want the image to look like and what DOF Preview shows me I will get when I take the image. I shoot in aperture preferred auto mode so I will always get a good exposure no matter what pairing of aperture and SS I shoot at, and just turn the command dial while looking through the viewfinder to adjust the aperture and monitor the resulting SS to keep within reasonable values. Wild birds are too fleeting to waste time pondering camera settings!

I prefer your shot to mine as well, Richard. Interesting to see the pale form in AZ as well. The OOF green in the background is almost a stylized starburst; an interesting effect.

Your shots are always good and this one is no exception. I do think that the WOW BG takes some attention from the subject. It did make me come back a couple of times to make my mind up.

Dan

Perhaps I should have been more direct, Richard. The bird and the near foreground I like. The background beyond that I don't think adds anything and takes away from the image. A shorter DOF would have alleviated that. However, I will grant that if you composed based on the preview, then this was your choice to make.

Very nice Richard.
May

A shorter DOF would have alleviated that.

I don't agree. When subject and background are "close" to each other it becomes impossible to blur the BG enough to make it smooth and detail-less. The best that my max aperture of f/5.6 would have done in this situation would have been to make a bit more of the twigs at the bird's feet less sharp and therefore more of a problem. That's what the DOF preview will tell the photographer. My choice at the time of taking this was to keep as much of the perch itself sharp since there was no way to blur the more distant background enough to matter.

Perhaps I should have been more direct, Richard.

Yes, please do so in the future. I'm looking for honest feedback, not "attaboys" or any other useless or undeserved platitude. By prefacing my initial comment with "Nothing special here" I was alerting viewers that I'm not particularly enthusiastic about this image because there are aspects that I think are not optimal.

I do think that the WOW BG takes some attention from the subject.

I agree.

Nice, Richard. The eye really pops in the larger version. The lighting feels like desert despite all that greenery. I like it.

Well Richard, for "nothing special" it looks darn good to me. I like the choice of SS for the perch sharpness, and you have great detail in the bird, as usual. I'm not troubled by the light in the BG incidentally. One can manipulate (Photoshop) an image to death, and the point would be?

Nice pose and head-turn, excellent detail evident especially in the larger image.

Rich, I don't especially like the light in this one, but I do like the southwestern race of SOSP. I think your DOF choice looks right on.

Cool to see a different race of these guys, and it's a very nice shot. I do like the perch, but I'm torn on the background, as that one bright green plant (?) is a little bit distracting to me. I do like seeing the detail in the eye such as you see in the larger version.

Rich

I like how the bird stands out very well from the background, for me there is no conflict between the two. Love the details, great view of the eye, comp and that this subtle sparrow looks like a jewel in a crown.