No Place But Texas . . .

Gallery: AvianPosted February 13, 2012214 views11 comments

Well not really, but it sounds good. As you travel around Texas, the one thing you can be sure of is that you will see mucho Mockingbirds (State Bird) and a bunch of Yaupon Holly - two common and often overlooked Texas natives. But when they come together under the right conditions, they can be striking - hope you enjoy.

1DMK4, 600 MM, 1000s, f9, ISO 400
70 % of full frame - cropped for composition, shot on a bean bag from my car.
I cloned out a few OOF branches to clean up the composition.

Comments and critiques welcome and appreciated.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 13, 2012 at 8:58 PM

Sweet, Randy. Nice composition and excellent detail. The berry in the beak is perfect.

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

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 13, 2012 at 9:10 PM

love that berry in the bill, Randy. nice and sharp and your cloning looks clean. my personal inclination would be to crop off the top two clumps of berries for more of a horizontal comp, but just a suggestion on a good looking image.

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

Comment posted by David Haynes on February 13, 2012 at 9:11 PM

Sweet image Randy. The larger image shows nice detail and you can really see the tongue. I don't know if it's just me but I'm noticing some darkness around the outer edges of the frame particularly up top on the right and left corners of the frame. Composition works well for me and you did a good job cleaning up the branches that were cloned out. Nice capture Randy.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on February 13, 2012 at 9:17 PM

Great shot of these 2 species Randy, love the berry in the beak. I agree with Brian's suggestion on the comp.

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

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on February 13, 2012 at 11:04 PM

Looks great, Randy. Nice and sharp, and the berries really add to the show. (10 different states have the Mockingbird as their state bird, BTW.) I'm not sure what's caused the vignetting, but it should be easily fixed.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on February 14, 2012 at 10:47 AM

Hello Randy

Beautiful Mockingbird Image! Crisp & Clean with excellent Bird details. The Berry in mouth Adds to the Overall Image.

I have read the other comments but not mentioned this. IMO the Berry branch is great but I am torn to mention this because Not mentioned by Anyone yet, But the Branch comes Out of the middle of his back & I find it bothers me, somewhat.
I like Brian's suggestion about a Horiz. Crop & less Berries .

Anyway.... I really think the Bird Image is Very Good! & Thanks for sharing.

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on February 14, 2012 at 11:47 AM

Agreat image, Randy. I love mockingbirds. So common here, but they always make eye contact during a photo op. Nice berry, Excellent pose and sharpness.

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on February 14, 2012 at 1:38 PM

Super Cool Photo Randy

The berry in the beak puts this one over the top, but I do agree with the crop suggestion too.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on February 14, 2012 at 4:40 PM

Wonderful, Randy. I like the colours and the perfect details!

Congrats

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 16, 2012 at 11:17 AM

Wonderful timing to get the berry in beak and excellent bird detail in the larger version, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on February 21, 2012 at 9:39 AM

Excellent timing. Very nicely captured.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments