American Goldfinch

Gallery: AvianPosted August 4, 2010162 views12 comments

Yet another. I almost didn't take this shot because he was partly shadowed, but I liked the oof asparagus foliage and the dappled shadows. I like the opposing angles of the birds and the lines of the foliage. I'm not too thrilled about the termination of the perch or the additional sunset flower stem in front of the bird, but that's what the doe left of them after she visited the other night. Oddly, the Goldfinches are quite fond of the perch she created.

7D, 500mm f4 + 1.4TC, Black Widow on Gitzo legs, f7.1, 1/640s, iso 400, Av mode with -1/3 compensation, subject distance 7.2m, cropped from horizontal to vertical (full height), normal processing in CS4, noise reduction with Neat Image.

I always appreciate your comments and criticisms.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on August 4, 2010 at 8:27 PM

neat shot, Dennis! I really like the watercolor bg here. IMO the bird is well lit and the pose and comp are very good as well. The top of the perch does not bother me, but I do agree that it is too bad about the oof stem in front.

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

Comment posted by David Hemmings on August 4, 2010 at 8:55 PM

I love the lighting and shadows here Dennis, gives the image depth. Nice work.

Registered on May 26, 2006, 178 Posts, 1680 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on August 4, 2010 at 9:38 PM

The background is killer good. Nice shoot of the gold finch also.

Mike

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on August 4, 2010 at 9:56 PM

Love that BG Dennis, and the filtered light works nicely..
Darn that doe!

Well done

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on August 4, 2010 at 10:42 PM

Dennis, the BG in this is absolutely cool! I actually like the shadows on the bird...sinece he is lit well, the shadows seem to bring a bit more depth to him.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on August 5, 2010 at 4:14 AM

This is as much about the background as the bird itself and I think it's great. I think you have summed up the image perfectly in your introduction Dennis. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 5, 2010 at 8:09 AM

That BG is wild Dennis. I too like the shadow play in this image. Bird looks nice and sharp in the important areas. A very captivating image with a lot to look at and think about.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 5, 2010 at 9:27 AM

The finch is nice in that dappled light Dennis but the background steals the show for me - it's exceptional. The OOF foreground stem is my only nit worth mentioning.

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

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on August 5, 2010 at 10:30 AM

Dennis

I sure love the oof asparagus in the background, the delicacy of the foliage adds a lot to this image. I like the pose of the goldfinch and the eye contact. My only issue is the OOF stem in front of the bird.

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

Comment posted by Craig Strand on August 5, 2010 at 10:46 AM

Beautiful and very interesting OOFBG to show off this goldfinch. I don't find the FG stems all that distracting. At first I thought the "artsy" BG drew my attention away from the bird, but after a longer take, IMO, I believe the bird and BG support each other and come together making this very artistic and exceptional! Well done Dennis!

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Muhammad Zaid Wani on August 5, 2010 at 10:54 AM

Very nice!

Registered on August 18, 2005, 23 Posts, 1406 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on August 24, 2010 at 6:09 PM

A fine capture.
Well done.

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments