American Goldfinch

Gallery: AvianPosted July 11, 2012114 views9 comments

It's been Goldfinch season here for quite awhile, but I've just been transitioning into "retirement" and haven't had a chance to set down at the computer recently to do any processing, let alone posting or commenting. Prepping for the infamous colonoscopy gave me an excuse to sit down for a bit, so here's one from the other day.

1DIV, 500mm ISL + 1.4 TC, Black Widow on RRS legs, f11, 1/250, iso 640, Av mode with -2/3 compensation. Cropped to 7.8MP. No change to color balance or saturation. Very minor curves adjustment and noise reduction via Neat Image. Taken near our backyard pond on July 7th at 8:35 pm.

Your comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 11, 2012 at 8:31 PM

Like the "attitude" of the birds posture and the open beak of course.
The last light of the day hit em' just right too, nice work Dennis

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

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on July 11, 2012 at 8:53 PM

Dreamy lighting and a nice pose. I think the composition works - but I'm not convinced it seems a little off-balanced to me

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 11, 2012 at 9:11 PM

I like the sweet afternoon light and the vocalizing call Dennis, I might crop or clone out the stick on the left. Congrats on your retirement.

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

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on July 11, 2012 at 10:14 PM

I like the scolding pose of the goldfinch, Dennis. The solitary green leaf in the perch adds a nice color contrast to rest of the image. Not too sure about the oof branch. I find it mildly distracting.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Avi Hirschfield on July 11, 2012 at 10:56 PM

I agree with Nate on the stick on the left to clone
Otherwise a great end of day shot with perfect lighting

Registered on November 1, 2003, 518 Posts, 2114 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on July 12, 2012 at 9:17 AM

Not the pose you usually see with these little guys, I like this a lot.

Ray

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 12, 2012 at 1:54 PM

Sure glad you were able to sit at the computer during your "prep" - lol, that's not where *I* had to sit...

Great pose here, and very nice detail.
Not sure about that oof branch - I think I'd get rid of it, to leave a simpler, cleaner image.
Really nice!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on July 12, 2012 at 2:37 PM

I love that you left the leaf Dennis. Nice warm light too. I'd be tempted to crop tighter leaving out the oof branch in bg if possible

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

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on July 15, 2012 at 12:57 PM

congrats on retirement, Dennis! love the perch, pose, and comp here. light looks great. I guess the 2nd branch isn't ideal, but not really much of an issue to me.

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