Savannah Sparrow

Gallery: AvianPosted February 24, 2014163 views8 comments

I spent last week shooting in the Klamath and Butte Valleys of S. Oregon and N. California. It snowed lightly on Tuesday night and was cold enough Wednesday morning to linger for quite some time. I came across a small flock of these on the Tule Lake auto route and was able to get shots of a couple of them, though this is a pretty fair crop.

1Div, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, resting on beanbag in window of open truck door to get the right angle. f6.3, 1/3200, iso 400, Av mode with +2/3 compensation. Processed in CS6 & LR5 and cropped to 3.2MP. Taken Wednesday, February 19th at 10:07 am. Filtered sun.

Your comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on February 24, 2014 at 7:27 PM

Love it.

Everything is working for me on this shot. The comp works well with that much open space on the left and I could easily see someone dropping in a magazine masthead or a few lines for a greeting card without taking anything away from a great capture. I think the filtered lighting is one of the things that help to make this as strong as it is. The detail pops without the extra contrast from stronger lighting.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Reed on February 24, 2014 at 8:30 PM

Wonderful capture. Sharp subject, nice DOF and the wonderful winter feel.

Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on February 25, 2014 at 3:14 AM

Superb in every way Dennis. Love the crop you've chosen here. Love the snow on the thistle, the perch and the background. For a tight crop this held up very well indeed. Light is just perfect. Love to have this in my collection.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on February 25, 2014 at 11:22 AM

Lovely setting, perch and composition! No snow here this year...Never heard of the species by the way, so thanks for showing it ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on February 25, 2014 at 10:17 PM

I really like the setting on this one Dennis. The snow is great and I love how you decided to include the entire perch. Also really good choice for DOF. My only tiny nit...is to me it feels a tiny little bit unbalanced. Is this a crop? I am wondering if you have room, about moving everything more left and leaving room on the right since that is the way the perch is curing? Just a thought...either way I still like it.

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

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on February 26, 2014 at 2:09 AM

This is over the top. Almost looks like a painting. Killer background.