Mountain Chickadee

Gallery: AvianPosted August 4, 201092 views10 comments

Another chickadee to add to the recent mix. This is a Mountain Chickadee on the same (natural) perch as the Virginia's Warbler I posted a while back. Lots of birds enjoy this perch as it is very close to a small waterhole.

I like the simplicity of the image and the context given by the oak leaves. I think some people would probably prefer a few more degrees of head turn to provide eye contact, as the bird is ever-so-slightly turning away. However, I like the head angle here, and feel that the active look draws me in and takes me into the bird's world, wondering what it's looking at.

Canon 7D, 500mm + 1.4x TC, monopod.

1/500, f/6.3, ISO 800

Crop to 55% (9.9 of 18MP), NR on bg, sharpening on bird.

Your comments and critiques are appreciated. Please view larger version if possible.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Joel DeYoung on August 4, 2010 at 12:25 PM

Nice, glad you added to the mix.

I like the perch and the details you captured, nice clean background helps set off the bird. Looks like a little bit of a blue cast here, nothing a curves adjustment on the blue channel wouldn't fix.

Nicely done.

Registered on July 12, 2009, 92 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Conway on August 4, 2010 at 1:46 PM

I like the very things you mention about this. Great perch, the oak leaves give it context without drawing away from the subject, and the BG is clean. The head turn works for me.

Peter

Registered on June 25, 2007, 347 Posts, 3913 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on August 4, 2010 at 2:31 PM

Brian,

I agree with your own evaluation of this image. I like the size of the bird in the frame too. Nice light, pose, sharpness and detail. The broken edge of the branch I might tone down just a tiny bit but that is very minor.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 4, 2010 at 3:35 PM

This is sweet Brian. Love the comp. I don't mind the head turn at all. This is very appealing to me as posted. The bird is very sharp and the image quality looks great for ISO 800. Well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 4, 2010 at 3:40 PM

Sweet, Brian. I like it with the head turn as is. Also, a species of chickadee I haven't seen.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 4, 2010 at 5:04 PM

The head turn is just fine by me Brian and I think your composition works well with the bird looking off toward that nice background. I agree with you that the oak leaves are a positive. Sharpness looks good. A strong image IMO.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on August 4, 2010 at 5:39 PM

Excellent detail, I like the oak leaves and I think the head position is fine here Brian. I thought the whites had a bit of a blue cast as well when I first viewed this.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on August 4, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Nice image quality - I couldn't get that at ISO 800 and especially with a large drop. I like the setting and the bird's position.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on August 5, 2010 at 8:29 AM

Nice one Brian - particularly like the setting (leaves) and the background.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Loomis on August 5, 2010 at 12:28 PM

This is one where the subject being centered really works. He's got room to look into on the left and cropping the right would eliminate the context. A very nice image! - I love it.

Registered on January 26, 2010, 68 Posts, 719 Comments