Great Crested Flycatcher

Gallery: AvianPosted June 13, 2010128 views9 comments

Carrying a stick... He was out in an open grassland and then flew into the trees...hence the slow ss and Iso. This was the best of 4 shots before he went deeper into the woods.

50D, 500mm w/1.4, Iso 200, 1/40, F4 Larger version posted, too.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Ronnie Gaubert on June 13, 2010 at 3:35 PM

Hi Sharon,
Appears these are difficult birds to get a clean shot of. I would assume this one is building a nest nearby. Would be nice to find the nest. The slow shutter speed definetly cause some softness and is more obvious in the larger image. If the bird was tac sharp I could live with the large background branch. I also find that OOF branch going to the lower left a bit distracting.
Thanks for posting,
Ronnie G.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 810 Posts, 3495 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on June 13, 2010 at 5:16 PM

Nice side pose and the stick in his mouth

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on June 13, 2010 at 5:58 PM

Nice shot, I agree with Ronnie about the OOF stick on the left side. I was wondering if you could of shot from a slightly lower angle if that would have made the bird stand out a bit more. I like the activity, nest building, you have captured. Nice color in the bird. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on June 13, 2010 at 7:44 PM

This looks pretty good considering the low light you had to deal with here Sharon. Your techs confuse me a bit as you can't go to F4 with the tc on. It looks like your focus point was on the shoulder and not the head leaving it slightly less sharp than the body as you were shooting wide open. With that body it's always a tough call whether to bump the iso up a bit and get more shutter speed and/or dof. Anyway it's a really nice image.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on June 13, 2010 at 8:05 PM

Sharon, I like the wing and tail position and the nice display of yellows under the bird at this angle. Interesting behavior with the stick. I agree that the POF seems to be on the birds wing rather than the head. I think that if the head were sharper the background branch would be less of an issue.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on June 14, 2010 at 1:13 AM

A fine pose with eye contact and a catchlight. I find the green color in the background to be a bit eye catching. Might experiment with a bit of desaturation on the bg. Extra nice having that stick!

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on June 14, 2010 at 8:37 AM

cool activity you caught here, Sharon. I agree that it's a little soft--this is why I have such a hard time deciding between setting my ISO or leaving it on auto, sometimes there isn't time to change it. the branches at upper left look kind of odd on their edges.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on June 14, 2010 at 9:03 AM

Sharon,

I like the pose, the twig in the bill and the light you caught in the bird's eye. The image does seem soft, your shutter speed may be the cause of that.

I like the alertness the bird's posture conveys.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Derrick Lipinski on June 15, 2010 at 1:50 AM

Nicely captured, Sharon. Other comments already noted.

Registered on October 5, 2007, 58 Posts, 2039 Comments