Blackburnian Warbler

Gallery: AvianPosted February 27, 2011168 views9 comments

Olympus E-5, 300mm x 1.4TC, handheld
f6.3, 1/250, ISO800

A Blackburnian Warbler in winter range, in southern Ecuador.

The photo is handheld because my tripod head failed catastrophically half way through the trip. That had a number of bad consequences, including an inability to use my 2.0 teleconverter; I couldn't keep it steady enough handheld.

Cropped to 50% of original. Brightened slightly, Usual sharpening drill.

C & C, please. Thanks for looking.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on February 27, 2011 at 1:55 AM

Wow! The lighting, focus, composition all work for me. When I viewed the larger image, it was just like it was really there in front of me. If this were a staged photo, I probably wouldn't have that second plant on the right as it distracts from the central focus on the bird. But it is showing the habitat and that's good. Looks like its starting to come into breeding plumage.

Peter

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on February 27, 2011 at 5:13 AM

Love it Jim - the perch and setting are wonderful. Great comp too

cheers
Rob

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

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on February 27, 2011 at 7:26 AM

Jim,

I like the setting, natural colors and the alert pose of the bird. I might remove that one light spot near the top of the frame above the uppermost leaf. It is really not significant but does seem to draw my eye to it.

Regarding the failed tripod head, there have been times when Ron and I are walking with our cameras and didn't carry the tripods. A few times Ron has used my shoulder as a rest for his lens to take a few shots, not as nice as a tripod but it did work ok.

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

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on February 27, 2011 at 9:52 AM

i got my eye driven to the clear spot near the top of the frame. For a stronger presentation i would clone out the plant in the bg but I recognized that it is part of and describe the environment. Even if, sorry for that, you've lost your head (

) you did it very well. the larger version is great in details and colors.

Cheers, Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by dan elster on February 27, 2011 at 10:23 AM

Beautiful composition and a beautiful bird. Nice pose and light too. There is some sort of bright dot in the backround behind the big leaf, but even i could fix that.

Really nice

Registered on September 23, 2005, 299 Posts, 2443 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on February 27, 2011 at 11:01 AM

An unusual setting for this bird! Good results given the equipment failure.

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

Comment posted by Bryan Hix on February 27, 2011 at 3:47 PM

Wow Jim that stinks about your tripod. Just curious, what brand was it? This is so cool that you are able to get this fantastic warbler on its winter grounds. Nice job in spite of your troubles.

Registered on June 13, 2008, 117 Posts, 755 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on February 27, 2011 at 7:59 PM

Jim,

The larger image is just drop dead gorgeous. The bird and perch really work well together in this shot!

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on February 27, 2011 at 8:52 PM

Love it.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments