Nuthatch

My favourite UK bird. C&C most welcome. Feel free to edit and repost.

John

1d2, 300mm f2.8 IS + 1.4x TC, 1/1000, f4

Well it's better than any nuthatch image I've got John I can tell you

Got to say though it's looking mighty contrasty - I can see the light was very harsh - have you tried setting the black and white points for the image?

Its a nice pose and it looks sharp enough, but as Andy has already stated it does look very contrasty. I also have a bit of a problem when diurnal birds birds are photographed against such a dark background making it look like a night shot!,
I bet theres a nice image in that RAW file waiting to get out though, setting the black and white points should sort it quite well.

agree with the above comments about contrast, aside from that a lovely pose

Classic pose John

Definately worth tweaking with, to bring out the best!!

Alan

Yeah, nice but the contrast is uncomfortable on the eye.

Brian

Hi John,

I totally agree with above comments. Have a play and you should end up with a nice result, try and tone down the blown whites on the face as well.

Regards

Rob

Agree with the comments above too. Would have been tempted to shut the aperture a bit at this shutter speed, but I know it's sometimes a grab shot and it's hard to do. Was it hand held?A classic pose that with a bit of processing could be a really nice shot. Worth doing I reckon

Lovely pose, horrible light, needs some sensitive processing, but well worth the effort of the work ahead.

Mark

I was trying to photograph these little blighters yesterday at Bolton Abbey - frustrating because my reactions don't match theirs! So I think yours is an excellent pose but I immediatly felt it was too contrasty, just as others have commented. Did you use flash - I had too at one point when the sun went in and it worked pretty well with .67 of a stop off.