The bird looks wired. Nice empty shot. Suits the song..."I have tried, in my way, to be free" . Canadians revere Leonard Cohen, you know.

Well Rod this is minimalistic and ideal for your music choice...great. Are they getting ready to migrate? , I think ours will be soon.

Thanks me ole mate:-)

My kind of photos. like it a lot.

Thanks Penny & Tommy:-) I had no idea the speed was maxed out causing the over exposure & it makes you wonder if an accident like this is valid for a picy as I was going for a blue sky with grain in it & then drop the Iso for a more girly picy. Mind you I could see on the camera LCD that the bird looked right so who knows what shots would have developed if the little buggers had stayed there for a while longer.

Thanks Rod for reminding us of this enduring song, which I didn't realize was Leonard Cohen until a few years ago when his retrospecitive album was released. I was more familiar with another old '70s album by Tim Hardin with the song which added some bg choir music by a New York amateur a capellela group, The Canby Singers, which I sing in but missed the recording session. As to the image, I thought you were going modern high contrast but even as an accidental discovery works very effectively for the song. Both are beautiful.

Okay then, I like the crop.

Put the unprocessed one in the drop box.

Thanks Penny, sort of Debi, Ivan, Daniel, Ernest, & Dougy:-) The last time I used the camera on Saturday at the pub it was set on Iso 6400, I dropped the missus off at the doctors & went to take a few picys & saw these Finches I on the power lines. I quickly put the 200mm on & left the Iso as is to see if I could get something gritty before dropping it to 100. I only got two shots & they all flew off so I put the 1.4 converter on & reset the Iso to 100 but they never came back so this is all I got. The shutter speed was maxed out at 8000 so this shot is really well over exposed for the sky but not so bad on the bird. The sky was a lovely blue with the sun just behind & above me so you can see how over exposed the sky is to come out whitish. Yes Debi this is a crop as I had the bird on the bottom third for my first picy & didn't get the chance to try anything else. In PS, S shape in the curves tool & the desaturation tool to take some of the colour out of the face & a sharpen.

Fantastic job, this is a ripper of a shot. This is a statement picture from you and your anti-highkey mentality, showing us that you can do pure white and no highlights WITHOUT it being a PC created HK image AND still have color.

Perhaps it as a result of me being acutely left handed but the bird looking into the right works for me. this kind of creativity shows you are in touch with your feminine side.

I follow Ivan here, great idea and well executed. I think the composition could be improved a little flipping the image horizontaly (that means the bird on the right side but looking at the left side). Could be a subtle change, but it worked for me. Try it!.

Very good shot Rod, and excellent composition. I like the contrast between the dark wire, the colorful bird, and the white sky! Did you shot against the sun? Or did you work the sky in photoshop? I am curious to know how you got this even white sky. Quite impressive. -Ivan

cropped?

I LOVE this picture!! And I love the song too!!! Geez you pick well.