Song Sparrow?

Yes, this is a Song Sparrow. I like the setting and muted colors. You could go a bit brighter IMO.

As with most of your avian posts there is a very noticeable texture in the image easiest to see in the background grays of the larger version. There's no reason for this with the D300S at ISO 200 so you need to figure out what step in your work flow is causing it. How much do you crop? How much do you sharpen? How many times do you sharpen? Do you sharpen only the subject or the entire image?

A nice look, and I like the muted tones. Since I have been using the D300s for some time, I would have to agree with Richard.

Love the artistic painting like feel to this John. I second that you could go brighter which would take this up a notch.

I agree with Richard about the BG texture but can't put my finger on what would cause that.

Jamie

Thanks for the ID confirmation Richard. I 've not had much experience with post processing images so I can see I have alot of learning to do. I should probably step back and start with the basics, go slow with my workflow. I've probably pick up a bad habit along the way. I'm currently only using LR3, would you recommend also using PS? Any recommendations for good training materials or classes? I have had to crop far too much and am now not taking shots if I can't get close enough. Also doing alot more bracketing lately so as not to feel the need to adjust exposure in LR. Thank you guys, I really appreciate your advice.

Thanks for the ID confirmation Richard. I 've not had much experience with post processing images so I can see I have alot of learning to do. I should probably step back and start with the basics, go slow with my workflow. I've probably pick up a bad habit along the way. I'm currently only using LR3, would you recommend also using PS? Any recommendations for good training materials or classes? I have had to crop far too much and am now not taking shots if I can't get close enough. Also doing alot more bracketing lately so as not to feel the need to adjust exposure in LR. Thank you guys, I really appreciate your advice.

John:

Yes, it is easy to pick up bad habits along the way - all of us have likely done that and had to make a change in workflow to get away from it.

I've no experience with Lightroom so I can't address anything in that regard. Hopefully someone else here will make suggestions based upon their experience with it. My own work has always been done with Photoshop so I can help there if you go down that path.

You've already noted two of the major reasons for prominent noise in images: heavy cropping, and heavy exposure increase to fix under exposed images. Avoiding the need to crop (either by using a longer lens or getting closer) will help; exposing properly ("to the right") will also make a significant difference.

I don't know what tools LR has for sharpening, nor how easy it is to apply sharpening selectively in LR. I hope someone else will address that issue. In any case you should avoid doing sharpening multiple times in your work flow, and you should reserve that step until just before you convert your image to jpeg for posting.

Most of what I do with my own images is documented in various articles in this section of my web site: look at "Photography Tutorial," "Digital Tips," and "Raw to Jpeg Example."

I really like the environmental shot here. The muted colors are really nice and the composition works very well. Great image.

Very appealing image -great position of the bird in the frame, andnice detail. Agree with comments already made.
Sandy