There were lots of birds around the backyard pond last night when I was doing evening chores, so I came back out with a camp chair and my camera. The only really cooperative bird was this Savannah Sparrow. It came in to the same general area twice and gave me some nice opportunities. This was one of those times when I kick myself for not remembering to take a couple of extra shots of the perch so I could create a composite with the whole thing in focus.
Specific Feedback Requested
Is the out of focus lower perch a serious problem? To my eye, it’s far enough from the bird that my eye just slides over it, but I’m interested in how others react.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
A7Riv, FE200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 806 mm, tripod with ball head and Sidekick mount, f/9, 1/1600, iso 800, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 5272x6024 from a horizontal original. Taken at 6:10 PM yesterday.
The perch looks natural (oh the moss!) and since the shapes and patterns repeat our minds can fill in the OOF areas, so it doesn’t look odd to me. A composite would be ok, but you’d have to match the light.
The sparrow looks great. Perhaps a bit too warm overall? I think you could unmuddy the greens and yellows with a little tweaking.
Hi Dennis, this looks great to me. Wonderful perch and background with an attractive subject. Nice details on the bird and the perch looks natural to me. well done.
Excellent light and detail. You have a very pleasing perch setup. I could also see this as a landscape crop. I would cut up to the top of the jagged part of the perch on the far left and add a tad of room on the right.
My eyes went right to the bird and then down to the perch. I did not even recognize the oof in the foreground until I read your question. From my point of view it is not a problem at all.
Great photo Dennis, everyone should be happy to have this in their collection. Well done.
