Siskin (Spinu spinus)

[Jonathan Ashton]

• Jon Ashton
• Jon Ashton
• Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 16.5 (Windows)

Hand held, cropped, small tidy up on the bird's head, taken from a woodland hide in Scotland.
OM-1 150-400 (@800mm FF equivlent)
ISO 1000 +0.3EV, 1/1600sec, f4.5

ACR/PSCC

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, I quite like it and having a clean backdrop helps provide good standout.

I think a tighter crop, and again a 16x10 format. There is a bit of a Green cast so just tweak the Tint and I might just darken the bottom LHC to balance out the overall BKG light. Again tackle the Blue coming through.

1/600 SS, is that right or is that the OM system?

TFS
Steve

 

[Brian Sump]

Hi Jon, the pose really stands out to me here.

Very nice details in the head and eye.

Not sure the exact yellow on this subject but I think you could probably tweak the hue just a touch and really make him pop. You could also play with some selective lightening around the eye to enhance engagement.

While I'm much more open than many to boxier crops, I do feel like this one lends to a more traditional one with less off the top. If you wanted to keep the unique subject in the LLC (lower left thirds) you could still take some from the top and shift everything down.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... at first I was thinking the comp is " wrong " , but after taking a second and third look I quite like the comp with the twig coming in from right top side ... leading to the subject .
BG is sweet with the slight color variants ... buttery smooth . Siskin does look good to me on all counts .
Would just burn the very bright lichen...
Sweet image

TFS Andreas

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks very much everyone for your comments, much appreciated, I suspected the crop wouldn't sit quite right with all of you... but not too bad.
The shutter speed was 1/1600 sec - my typo, I will correct it.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andreas,thanks for looking, I did burn the lichens but agree a little more may have been better... glad you liked it.

 

[William Dickson]

Very nice Jon. I think you exposed the bird perfectly. The yellows, depending on the light change quite a bit. Nice pose and HA. I like the BG colours. Hope you enjoyed your visit.

Will