Pied wagtail in the snow

One from a couple of days ago where I was shooting pied wagtails backlit, the snow in the air is wind blown and the blue background is snow in shadow.

Nikon D300 200-400mm lens, ISO 250, 1/1000 at F4 (D300 borrowed from Mark Davies after mine packed up after a soaking during a blizzard, cheers mate, I owe you )

Very nice Andrew

It looks a lot bigger with its wings out

I like the image bud , full of atmosphere and certainly gives you a feel for the temperature . Not sure about the comp though . Looking at the image in detail the bird whilst i wouldn't expect swaiths of detail in the head given the condition I'd expect to see a tadge more . Levels a bit off too.
Cropped and perspective adjusted in the crop for your review and consideration.
I see there's life if the old tool yet...LOL

Hi Mark

I'm not convinced so it'll be interesting to see what the general consensus is! Maybe it needs to be somewhere in between

Cheers mate

Andy

Hi Andrew

Super image - as has already been said plenty of atmosphere and well captured at the moment of take off. Of the two above I prefer your original image especially the crop and I'm not sure the levels need that extra contrast/saturation although somewhere in between as you said could be good!

David

Great shot, the light looks very harsh imho. But the snow makes it very magical.


liam.

great atmosphere as said, prefer the original composition, think it looks better with more space and the central composition works with the dark top and top corners of background framing the image to an extent

Hi Andrew. I think somewhere in between for contrast/sat. I think the first looks a little washed out but think the second has too much of a "picture postcard" look to it.
A different angle of a Pied Wag well captured.

Second looks over cooked Andy so as suggested somewhere in the middle. It certailnly makes for a different PW shot and points towards the plight of some of our birds in these conditions. The back lighting through the raised wings sets the bird off well.

Major.

Love the composition of the first one,suits the bird's stance.just need it darkening alittle in levels,and the 3 dark areas at the top of the image cloning out,the back lighting is very nice

I like it very much, it's different!

an unusual image, I think I also prefer the original more central composition. The snowy background and colours are great.

Matt

Fantastic shot of a common (ish) bird. Lovely backlighting. The wingspread is also so cool. IMO I went for the first. The second is a cleaner image but with too much processing. I would go somewhere inbetween the two images.

Ian

I like it, I like the processing of the first, but for me the off centre composition of the second suits the shot far better because of the birds head position..

Wonderful image. I prefer the first, but the composition of the second is better.

You go out on a limb Andy and try things that other people don't - I very much like that about your work. I'm not sure about this though. All the ingredients are right and it should work for me but I don't think it does. Why? I don't exactly know. Could you have done things differently? Probably not. Is it me? Probably. And that's why wildlife photography is what it is!!
Helpful? Not at all. Sorry.
Pete

Hi all

Thanks everyone for taking the time to feedback. Pete, thanks for your honesty, it is always greatly appreciated and I think I know what might be unsettling to you about this image. Perhaps it is the motion in the wings that seems incongrous with the fact the the wagtail still has its fat ass planted firmly in the snow, just a thought so thanks again to everybody

Cheers

Andy