Isn't it great when they pose?

I tend to get frustrated when trying to get shots of some of the smaller birds, such as the robin and great tit. They're so small and fast that by the time I zoom in, let alone get focus, they're gone again. So it's nice when one poses long enough to get an almost perfect shot. Well, almost perfect by my standards as an amateur. What I like about this shot of a blue tit is that my Canon 40D has given me an image that is so clear that I could crop it really close in and still get a good picture.

I thought I'd share the original picture with you and one crop possibility. If anyone can find a crop that's more interesting, or has more impact, or that you think is simply better than the one I chose, please share it with us. And while I learn best by going out and doing photography, I do value constructive criticism so I'd be grateful if you'd share that, too. Thanks.

Shot with a 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens on a Canon 40D, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, Av mode, fl:300mm, partial metering. Post-processing: slight changes to light levels and sharpness in Picasa. Large picture saved at 85% quality in the Gimp, small picture cropped from that.

Click a picture to go to the Flickr page where you can see the original sized versions.

Blue Tit

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …s/garryknight/2​434423843/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …s/garryknight/2​439596364/

Frame it Garry

Pretty little bird and I like the crop you posted. Good shots


Sharon

Nice shot and an impressive quality crop too.

I see you're from Kent, which bit? Stop on by the South-East UK Thread for many photogs in your area too.

Great shot! I love the crop.

Sweet shot...pretty bird!

lovely shot and great quality , well captured

Thanks everybody for your kind comments.

Anke wrote in post #5398328
I see you're from Kent, which bit? Stop on by the South-East UK Thread for many photogs in your area too.

Bromley. I checked out that thread but there are so many posts every day I doubt that I could keep up. Thanks for mentioning it, though.

[By the way, the link you posted has two "http://"s in it.]

Wonderful shot Garry The crop is really lovelyWell done

The crop works for me Garry, it got rid of the distracting branches from the full-sized original. Glad to see the 40D (and you) doing its thing.

The smaller birds can be quite difficult to capture, well done.