Reed warbler into the light

I spotted a couple of these with the early sun lighting up the reeds behind them so I tried a shot against the glow. Given the density of the reedbed I was probably lucky to just get one oof reed across the left foot! Comments appreciated as always.

1DMkIII + 500mm + 1.4x TC
1/400sec at f/5.6 and ISO400 +1/3EV
About 75% of the frame

Hi Dave, i like the position in the frame, and you have the head turn, which is really nice.
the photo gives a real feeling of the enviroment that these birds live in. The rim lighting of the bird is an added bonus. great capture. of a difficult subject.



Mark.G

I agree with Mark . A light BG wouldn't normally be acceptable but here the balance is spot on .Great comp , a tadge more to the CL ?

As these birds have become my bête noire of late I can say, after spending countless hours standing alongside a reed bed cursing these blighters, that this is a great shot. Very, very jealous.
Well done, Dave

Simon

an excellent pose and composition Dave, nicely done. I'm on an old laptop at the moment, but it looks like it might benefit from being a bit warmer or a bit more saturation?

Matt

Hi Dave

looks fine to me I am all in favour of birds in a natural setting

Lovely shot

Many thanks for the comments so far - here is a second version with a bit more 'grunt' (possibly!).

A stunning image. I prefered the first version. More subtle.

I'm surprised that this is so sharp at 1/400 and ISO 400. What tripod setup do you have? Any top tips on handling vibrations?

Ben

Ben - there are many on here far better qualified than I am to comment on telephoto technique, but at 1/400sec (and a lot less most of the time) I would always expect good sharpness from a relatively static situation like this, and the image quality from the 1DMkIII at ISO400 seems good. I use a Wimberley head and a Gitzo tripod, so it is quite a hefty set up that is inherently stable. I don't do anything other than rest an arm along the lens, slap an AF point on th eye of the bird and try to relax! The warbler was manual focus because of the interfering reeds blowing across the front of the lens.

I prefer the first one aswel Dave as increasing the contrast has lead to the detail in the back feathers being reduced. Great pose though and the background is spot on.

Extremely beautiful shot!
I prefer the first shot.
The other Dave Bartlett
USA

A great image, I really like the overall colour sceme but prefer the first image