Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

[Jonathan Ashton]

• Jon Ashton
• Jon Ashton
• DxO PureRAW 3

A subadult male, if you look at the head you will see some orange feathers present, once fully adult they all turn to red.
Image cropped slightly for composition and there is a minor clean up on the bill.

OM-1 150-400TC (@700mm FF equivalent)
ISO 800 +0.7, 1/800sec f5

ACR/PSCC

 

[Brian Sump]

Hi Jon, welcome to the new BPN platform. Quite different for sure but hopefully we'll all adjust.

Very pleasing canvas on this Finch. I love the little fruit and colorful leaves. Interesting intermediate plumage too.

Detail and sharpness are all quite nice. Very strong pose albeit off light angle.

For me it feels a touch cold so my main suggestion would be to potentially warm it up a touch.

Crop wise, I see you chose a more boxy one. I can see why I think but I might have slid everything up just a touch. Minor personal thing.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Brian, glad you liked it. The new site as you say a little different but it’s a whole lot easier to reply to posts when on an iPhone.
Hoping posts will pick up, its been very quiet recently, Macro and Wldlife especially slow.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

• Jon Ashton
• Jon Ashton
• DxO PureRAW 3

Hi Jon .. nice shot of the Goldfinch .
Super pose and the perch is good albeit I wish the berries would have shown up better and the broken end was turned away.
BG is what it is ... super smooth ...
Personally I think it is quite dark and heavy in the darker tones ... saturation is nice .
Color grading partly off for me ...
See my RP how I would edit the WB
Wonder what you think

TFS Andreas

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Andreas, I like your repost, it looks a little brighter and more pleasing in terms of colour rendition, I prefer it.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, a little less above and some more below, but the stark green makes it slightly sterile I feel, but hey... Perhaps a softer green with a little mottling might just help things?

Colourwise you are not too far away, well expoed, but some minor adjustments and just watch any slight bias and you are there...

I assume this is from your hide in the garden.

TFS
Steve

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Agreed, I am working on the background, yes this was from a garden hide but not the same from one approx 1 year ago

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Agreed, I am working on the background, yes this was from a garden hide but not the same from one approx 1 year ago

Kudos on your commitment Jon, just be mindful of distances. Just don't fall into the trap when RPS allowed painted backdrops.... really?????

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Kudos on your commitment Jon, just be mindful of distances. Just don't fall into the trap when RPS allowed painted backdrops.... really?????

Yes I am somewhat surprised at some of the direction they have taken.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Yes I am somewhat surprised at some of the direction they have taken.

This is why I left, plus they kept moving the goal posts, I missed getting a 'Fellow' purely on a simple change.

 

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Less space above for my liking too, Jon.
Wonderful, sharp and tons of details.
I can't help but think the BG is almost unnatural looking, like too smooth. I am sure it isn't, but it just looks odd.
But I am sure it is the original one.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Less space above for my liking too, Jon.
Wonderful, sharp and tons of details.
I can't help but think the BG is almost unnatural looking, like too smooth. I am sure it isn't, but it just looks odd.
But I am sure it is the original one.

There is probably less noise than you might expect because I push the exposure to the right to increase subject to noise ratio. I did go through a phase of adding additional NR to the background or reducing Texture etc. I don't tend to do the latter now.

 

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I do the same ETTR, have for about 15 years. It's amazing and so many people just don't know it