Goldfinch and thistle

Very nice. I'll second Rich's comment.

Great color palette and I like the headturn. I wish I had paid better attention to thistles this year in hopes of getting these birds.

- Luke

This is really sweet! I like it as is or possibly with just a minute crop on the left to crop out the half thistle flower. Beautiful colors and really nice detail on the bird. This one just sang "open me, open me" from the thumbs! Sharon

It looks great, Bryan. Beautiful colors and a nice head turn. However, for fun I tried examining the image in PS using Levels and found much of the upper yellow portion of the bird to be "blown" and the some yellow in the lower half of the bird to be saturated (using the Info palette it reads 100% or so for S in HSB co-ordinates). I also imported the image into Topaz Denoise 5 and looked at it with that programs noise detection light: noise in the bird was clearly evident especially just above the legs. ....but, as I said above, it looks great so maybe these things are not all that influential here. I've been doing quite a bit of work trying to figure out how best to assess my own images. Still struggling!!

Thanks Steve for taking a look. I use LR3.2 and Elements 8 and they have their limitations. I have never bitten the bullet and purchased a full PS program. This would be one of those times I wish I had it. I just need to play around with those yellows because they are certainly too hot in some areas.

Maybe the yellows are better in this repost?

Yep, that fixed it, Bryan. Both Levels and Info Palette say all is well.

Love the thistle and bird composition. I agree with Sharon about trying to loose the half flower to the left.

Hi Bryan,
Very nice even lighting and great colors. I like that the bird and flower were in the same plane to get both in focus. . A little noise in the bird but not excessive. My personal opinion is a clean background would have worked better but it is what it is and can't be changed. Just something to think about for next time. There is a lot going on in this image and a clean background would have focused on just the bird and flowers.
Ronnie

Bryan, I have yet another take on this image. Aside from h/s levels and whatever noise might be or not be present I like the colorful "others" in the image. What I don't care for is that the thistle on the left is sharp and bold enough to distract from the subject. You probably saw that from the beginning and bumped up the sat in the bird to compensate.

"What I don't care for is that the thistle on the left is sharp and bold enough to distract from the subject. You probably saw that from the beginning and bumped up the sat in the bird to compensate."

Actually didn't do a thing to the saturation in post processing. Wayne I would love to hear your opinion on what to do about the comp instead? I kind of thought the large thistle balanced the comp.

I think your comp is well balanced here Bryan. There are some elements in the lower right that I find a little distracting but removing them would not help the comp so it is what it is in that respect. I think it's quite difficult to get a bird isolated without distractions in a thistle setting. Nice work.

Really like as is Bryan - the setting and head are wonderful

cheers
Rob

Bryan,

I prefer the yellows in the repost. Great pose, love the thistles and the punch of color they add to the image. The comp works for me.

A beautiful bird in a lovely setting
Well done.

Geoff.

I lay awake at nights hoping to catch a goldfinch on a thistle. Never happens. Very well done.
May