Great Tit with Peanut Photo

Photographer’s Note

This great tit - parus major - had just collected a peanut from somewhere and settled up in a tree to eat the spoils. Great tits are 13-15 cm and weigh about 20 gram. These birds need enormous amounts of food to keep going during winter. A great tit will need about 1 calorie per 1 gram of body weight per day. Compare this to a grown man whose daily need is 0.04 calories per gram of body weight - although I know a few men who get somewhat more than that, especially around Christmas ;-)).
Treatment: Crop, Contrast +10, Brightness +10, Saturation +10, lightness +5, USM and resize.
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Sorry, initially mixed up the names, this is a *great* tit, not blue tit.

wanderlust has marked this note useful

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ReynardTheFox (260) 2003-12-12 7:25

This is excellent - its well lit, well composed and the DoF is very well chosen - enough blur to make the background and foreground less of a distraction and give a "3D" feeling while keeping enough detail to give an idea of the surroundings. The fill in flash works very well - it adds a little bit of sparkle to the eyes which would otherwise be hard to spot against the dark plumage. Its a shame you can't see more of the peanut(!) but otherwise this is great.

I used to get these birds in my back garden - I've always liked them.

Jeppe (18624) 2003-12-12 7:37

Hej Bente
A great shot of a common bird in most Danish gardens. I like the reflection in the blue tits eye and the DOF in the picture. Also thanks for the notes - I will have it in mind next time at the table ;-)

orme (6746) 2003-12-12 7:38

Beautiful shot. The markings and colours on the bird are lovely. I especially like the shape of the bird as it busily nibbles its peanut. Well captured.

dob_31 (0) 2003-12-12 16:45

Excellent shot, the colors and details on the the bird are simply amazing and so is the texture on the brenches... The image is well framed and the note is very precise. Well seen, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the advice about food and the holidays...

mogens-j (56) 2003-12-12 18:08

Well Bente, this is a very good shot (very good details in the bird) and I am glad to see that you are getting more familiar with your new camera and lens. I wonder how much cropping you added to the picture because these guys are sometimes very difficult to catch in close range. The DOF is very good and what I really like is that you have used a minimum of USM. I am sure, that you soon will learn to separate the birds too :-).

Good work - see you in the field.

Clochette (8076) 2003-12-12 19:03

I'm admiring your shot, as well as macro photographs. I often wish to try, but I'm afraid I will lack of patience. Or perhaps French tits are more nervous and moving too fast ;-)
The sharpness is incredible, I feel like touching the bird. Great colors also, the blue/grey tones in the blurred background make it nicely with the yellow on the bird. Very well done !

RobBrown (1789) 2003-12-14 14:04

Only just got to see this great pic. looks good and sharp to me , nicely seen piece of habit.Nice and up close. :0))))#

anadai (2492) 2003-12-15 6:53

You are doing fantastic things with this new camera, well, it's not only the camera I know.
Very well done indeed. Will soon send you a link to pic's I took on my way back home, sailing from Croatia. Keep posting these beautiful photos they bring back memories of a beautiful country,

Didi (37199) 2004-01-30 10:48

Mésange à tête noire.
Très bonne composition et la parfaite netteté est limitée au sujet en action.
Utilisation judicieuse du flash qui ne dénature pas la photo.
A quelle distance étiez vous du sujet ?

Titmouse with black head. Very good composition and perfect clearness is limited to the subject in action. Judicious use of the flash which does not denature the photograph. With which distance were you subject?

Tim (469) 2004-03-11 17:38 [Comment]