Sparrow in the pine

Gallery: AvianPosted February 19, 2017140 views6 comments

I decided to sit out and enjoy this mild winter area in Illinois. There are a few pine trees in my back yard so I began photographing the sparrow as they came and went. At least I think this is a sparrow and not a gold finch in winter colors.
I like the photo because I was able to accent the bird in the sunlight and not pick up the neighbors house in the back ground.
Canon T5i
Sigma 150-600 C at 600mm hand held
F 6.3
ISO 200
Shutter 1/640.

How can I make this better? Should I clone out the branch below the bird?
Thank you for looking and your support. I have a lot to learn.
Brian

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on February 19, 2017 at 8:22 PM

I really like this photo as is. Personally, if I was going to clone something out it would be the OOF branch above the bird. I think the perch and the branch below the perch look great.

I haven't seen many images with a dark brown background like that. This is probably really weird, but I wonder how it would look with a slightly different saturation or tint or something.

Again, I really do like this.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on February 20, 2017 at 12:02 AM

Nice use of the light to suppress the background.

I'd prefer a bit more space on the right to keep the House Sparrow from being so far to the right in the image. I'd also pull back a little on the sharpening as it has made the plumage look unnatural to my eye.

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

Comment posted by Brian Murphy on February 20, 2017 at 7:49 AM

Thanks for the feedback Barb and Rich.
I understand about over sharpening a bit. A bit of sharpening was done when I cleaned up the photo a bit and then again while following the directions to post on the site. I will be more cautious of this next time.
I exposed for the bird in an effort to hide the background. About 40 feet behind is my neighbors house and I always pick up the roof line or some other house feature in the background. The sun was highlighting the bird and the roof was dark due to shade directly in back. I have not considered a lighter background but I may experiment to see what happens.
Thank you again for the advice.
Brian

Registered on November 15, 2015, 35 Posts, 50 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 20, 2017 at 3:54 PM

A little more room on the right and the comp will be very good. You understand you got the out of focus background because you had a relatively wide aperture as well as a shadowy background?

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

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 20, 2017 at 4:03 PM

Hi Brian. A very nice image of this sparrow, Brian. I agree with the other comments on the room on the right. I definitely wouldn't remove that bottom branch-it's way too cool. It's a nice pose and a good catchlight. Oversharpening has been mentioned already. For some reason, your "larger" image looks to be the same size as the main image.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on February 20, 2017 at 6:17 PM

This is a fairly decent shot Brian. Other than the space on the right I think you've done a pretty good job. Yes it could be a little less sharp but that's easily fixed with a redo. And you probably could pretty easily remove the branch just above the birds body. I really like the color in the background. It blends well with the bird.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments