Bossy + re-post

Fieldfares are bossy birds. Every blackbird in the garden is kept at a distance or chased off. The bossy behaviour is often displayed by fluffing out their chest feathers, hanging down their wings, spreading their tail feathers and sometimes opening up their beak a little bit. This one was taken just after it chased off a blackbird.

Nikon D300s @ 400 mm, iso 200, f4, 1/400 sec, + 1.0 EV on a groundpod

Beautiful exposure on this one !
Could beef it up a bit with levels but then you,d loose that wonderful effect.

Good stuff.
JR

I like the soft affect and think it suits this wonderfully. It is a beautiful picture. It does have a blue cast so may need a little warming but easily done but as i said this is wonderful

Hi Sandra, very 'nice' like the posture and head angle with the beak slightly open adds interest. Looking at the wing plumage I'm not sure if it's been slightly lightened (?) although there is lovely, delicate detail/colours in the chest plumage. I like the detail & DOF in the snow, however the blue does give it the coldness, but I think adjusting this still retains the look & feel, but retains everything else, as the snow conveys the coldness, your call though. If you do want to loose the slight blue cast, warming it up is not the way to go, as it will effect everything, but hey...

In an ideal world it would have been nice to have had a consistent tonal background which really would have separated the subject, but overall a very nice shot.

TFS
Steve

Gorgeous light and detail on this Sandra and the pose of the bird (typical thrush threat posture) really enhances what is already a cracking image. If I might make a couple of suggestions: A slightly tighter crop with a little of the bottom still leaving some of the mush and some off the right and as already suggested remove the blue cast (adjust the colour balance by reducing the amount of blue and increase the red slightly). Hope you don't mind my re-post.

Nick.

I think you have judged it just right; the subtle colours of the bird, the hint of blueness and the ephemeral qualities of the snow all add up to a beautifully topical image. Excellent.



I'm glad your blackbirds get their comeuppance. They give the song thrushes in my garden no end of grief.

Personally I thought it was the blueness that gave the shot its character.
JR

First shot for me, it's a beautiful composition.

I think that even the second shot could do with having the blue toned down a bit further, but it is still a shot I would love to have taken.

David

Works for me, conveys the bossy ness and winteryness of the scene.

Sandra

A cracking shot IMHO.

Thank you all very much for your constructive comments and suggestions. I don't mind the re-post, Nick. It was very helpfull. I can understand the comments on the blueness. Shadows on snow often turn blue and in this case I quite like it, as it conveys the coldness. Anyway, I do appreciate the suggestion to tone down the blue slightly, so I reworked the image. Does this look better?
And for Steve: the bird isn't lightened at all.

Yep, looks good to me and I prefer the body toning in the OP & this, as this looks natural. Do you prefer it now or prefer the OP?

Not a huge difference, have to say I was happy with the original but maybe Steve's red jacket cause colour shifts

I think you have judged the repost perfectly

Sandra the first one really looks good to me,very nice indeed.

Keith.

What a cracker Sandra

Bob