American Goldfinch

Gallery: AvianPosted July 9, 2011138 views17 comments

Another one from the pond garden. These thistle looking things are an ornamental, the name of which I cannot recall, but I thought it made a fun perch.

1DMkIV, 500mm f4 IS + 1.4TC, Black Widow on Gitzo legs, f8, 1/3200, iso 1000, Av mode with -1.0 compensation, normal processing in CS4, cropped to 4MP. Taken at 8:06 pm on July 3rd. The high iso setting was in hopes of getting a take-off or landing shot-it's amazing how much wing blur you get in those situations.

I always appreciate your comments and criticisms.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on July 9, 2011 at 11:10 PM

Dennis, the purple thistle makes a perfect perch for this yellow bird. Your composition is balanced very nicely and the catchlight in the eye is icing on the cake.

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Huff on July 10, 2011 at 12:22 AM

A really colorful and beautiful image Dennis. The purple thistle adds to the image.

Ron Huff

Registered on August 31, 2010, 69 Posts, 440 Comments

Comment posted by Verdon on July 10, 2011 at 12:46 AM

Great job, it's not easy to photograph that finch, because of the bright color, the perch and pose made the shot stunning, awesome work

Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Verdon on July 10, 2011 at 12:52 AM

forgot to mentioned the perch on the left side edge is little bit disturbing for me, other that 2 thumbs up....

Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 10, 2011 at 3:43 AM

Nice close-up look at this fellow, Dennis. Great pose. Interesting but uncomfortable looking perch! I think the image would be stronger if the plant at the lhs and maybe even the small blob in t he lower rhs were removed. However, they are not major distractions: I only really noticed them as I studied the shot. Lovely image.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on July 10, 2011 at 12:03 PM

really nice pose and light, Dennis. sweet perch too. the 1DIV impresses me more all the time--no way could I use that ISO/crop combo on the 7D.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on July 10, 2011 at 1:53 PM

Doesn't get much better than this in my opinion Dennis. The perch, the pose, the background and the sharpness are all excellent. Good job of handling the colors.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on July 10, 2011 at 1:57 PM

WOW! Dennis, this is simply awesome! Love the perch, color and perfect exposure!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on July 10, 2011 at 2:44 PM

A pleasing image as posted. I like the feel of the late light here, and the purple adds a nice touch.

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on July 10, 2011 at 4:59 PM

A very pleasing portrait to look at Dennis

The thistle makes for a great perch and it's purple tone seems to enhance the beautiful goldfinch.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Jenkins on July 10, 2011 at 5:42 PM

I like the great BG, colorful perch and eye contact on this one Dennis. Would like a little more DOF but great shot as it is.

Registered on April 20, 2008, 307 Posts, 604 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on July 10, 2011 at 7:53 PM

The evening light is excellent, as is the whole picture!

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 10, 2011 at 9:51 PM

Love the purple color of the thistle Dennis, a great color combination and most attractive..
Beautiful capture!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on July 11, 2011 at 3:35 AM

Nicely executed Dennis, with good detail & punch. Would prefer a more 5 x 4 format on this rather than a square crop, but that is just a personal thing. Would remove the light blob bottom RHC.

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on July 11, 2011 at 7:02 AM

Dennis, this is one of the best goldfinch images I've seen. I like the thistle and complimentary OOF BG. Wonderful job in capturing the detail of such a gorgeous bird.

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on July 11, 2011 at 2:35 PM

Very nice composition and complimenting colors across this image, nice job in getting this, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on July 11, 2011 at 9:19 PM

Excellent Dennis, love the background color with the bright yellow bird. the purple accent is perfect,

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments