Rufous-collared Sparrow

Gallery: AvianPosted June 20, 201497 views7 comments

Hello. This is my first post and I am excited to join the group. I have been actively engaged in photography for 8 years however, I am an absolute "newbie" when it comes to bird photography. I am a Canadian who moved to Costa Rica two years ago so I have no shortage of subjects.

I photographed this little fellow from our patio in El Cajon de Grecia Costa Rica. I was shooting butterflies when I caught him out of the corner of my eye and managed to get a shot off.

Techs: D7100 (1.3 crop mode), AFS300 mm f4, 1/60th, f8, ISO 160, aperture priority, matrix metering

I hope I have posted correctly and look forward to critiques that will help me improve.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on June 20, 2014 at 3:23 PM

Hello Bill. Welcome to NPN. This is a great first post. You managed to capture a great look at the eye, which is so important. It is very sharp and the background is beautiful. I did think it was a bit light. I downloaded the image and changed the exposure slightly. I think it made it even better. Keep em coming. Well done.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Ronald Murphy on June 20, 2014 at 3:28 PM

I enjoy this a lot, especially the sharpness of the large image. I'd darken it a bit, though. Welcome.

Registered on March 13, 2012, 279 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on June 20, 2014 at 5:07 PM

Hi Bill: Great to see you here!! Looking forward to seeing more of your work from Costa Rica! Hope you have been well.

Nice image, great sharpness, lovely soft background. Feels just a bit on the bright side, especially the post. Some selectively burning of that would help as well as a small adjustment in overall brightness.

Again welcome.

Keith

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on June 20, 2014 at 7:53 PM

Hi and welcome to the highly addictive world of bird photography. Fabulous first post! Excellent work on that eye. A slight decrease in brightness and a tad more more contrast would improve this otherwise great shot of a nice sparrow. Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on June 20, 2014 at 10:14 PM

Thank you for your first post. Hope to see many more. Agree with the comments made by others. I have learned a lot from the comments and help from others. Welcome.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on June 21, 2014 at 3:11 PM

Hi, Bill. Welcome to NPN Avian. I'm looking forward to your photos and your comments; this is a great place to learn.

A very nice capture; the cocked head makes the shot. I agree with Keith that it's a hair over-exposed. You can probably improve the shot by bring the brightness down a bit. If you have Photoshop and want to make more precise adjustments, use the Adjustments -> Shadows/Highlight to bring the Highlights down selectively.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Berry on June 21, 2014 at 3:39 PM

Thank you to all for the wonderful welcome. Hello to Keith and good to hear from you...doesn't seem like a year since we met.

Your comments have been most helpful. I am looking very much forward to posting additional photos and learning from such a great group. I looked at a lot of my recent photos and I agree I tend to lean to bright...something I will definitely work on.

Registered on June 20, 2014, 17 Posts, 71 Comments