Spotted Towhee

[Dennis_Plank]

Description:

A raccoon remodeled both of the little pools at my blind so I spent awhile repairing /remodeling them myself. We had some cloud cover hang around this morning giving me fairly mellow light so I spent some time in the blind. The sun was just starting to come through when this Towhee came in. I was photographing a Song Sparrow further back in the pond and noticed the foreground splashing in the viewfinder, so I shifted down and found this bird really going at it (which this species tends to do).

Specific Feedback Requested:

I did a fair amount of clean-up on the background and burned the brown rock above the bird. I’m still thinking that rock may be too much of a distraction.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
No.
Sony A1, FE 200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 477 mm, tripod with gimbal head, f/9, 1/1250, iso 1250, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 6618x4800. Taken today at 8:59 AM.

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[Vanessa_Hill]

Such a cute capture, Dennis! He’s really making the water fly! Maybe you could just crop the rock out and then have a nice closer view of the bird. Just a thought.

[Diane_Miller]

Nice! The bird is giving you a look that engages the viewer. (Like, really, can’t I shower without voyeurs and paparazzi?) I’d clone the rock – easy to get away with in that OOF area. I wonder about bringing up the exposure a bit – should be possible to still keep the whites under control.

A tiny nit – the edge of the rock against the left edge grabs my eye. I like what I can see of it and wonder if there is more there, to allow a slightly looser framing. Otherwise a tiny bit of a crop there.

[David_Schoen]

I like the action on this one especially the splashes. I do agree with Diane with respect to bringing up the exposure a bit.