Western Meadowlark

Gallery: AvianPosted July 22, 2011118 views8 comments

MarkIII, ISO 400, F /4, 600 mm, 1/1000, 2/3 EV, handheld, 20 % of FF ...
That's my favorite shot of ML, because is not easy to capture them somewhere else than sitting on the fence , that day was quite windy and overcast.....
Thank you for your comments

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 22, 2011 at 4:19 PM

Really nice catch - great pose, eye, and perch.
Seems a bit soft (hard to tell in this small size) and "flat" - added sharpening and contrast would likely help.
Nice!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on July 22, 2011 at 6:03 PM

Very nice image. It could use warming up a bit.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Mangas on July 22, 2011 at 7:16 PM

One of my favorite birds of summer. Their songs color the air like light through stained glass. Nice capture thanks for sharing Verdon.

Registered on November 9, 2007, 94 Posts, 568 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on July 22, 2011 at 7:39 PM

sweet pose, perch and bg, Verdon. I agree that it does seem a little soft (hard to tell but probably from the heavy crop) and that it could use a little more contrast.

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

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on July 22, 2011 at 10:15 PM

Nice Verdon, you got him on a great perch in an excellent pose.

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 22, 2011 at 10:56 PM

Nice crisp image, Verdon. I like the pose.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on July 23, 2011 at 8:57 AM

Beautiful. I like the comp that you have here. The bird has a slightly upward gaze that is quite charming. Does look a little flat and could use another round of sharpening.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on July 23, 2011 at 8:29 PM

Verdon,

I think the pose is great, I like the simplicity of the branch and the eye contact. There are several issues with this image though and I hope you will take my critique as it is meant to be, helpful.

You made a large crop and that can cause a redution of the fine details, getting closer to the subject would help and loosening the crop can help a bit too but it isn't a substitute for getting closer. Another Issue is that your file size is only 68.3 kb on the server which indicates that this file was over compressed. Over compression also reduces fine details and combined with a large crop it makes it worse.

I can see crinkly little artifacts around the bird and the perch, those are often the result of over compression too. Try to keep the smaller version just under 300 kb, the larger just under 500 kb. I agree this could be warmed up a little and that it is a little flat but the flatness is most likely due to lack of detail.

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