Kentucky Warbler

[Henry Domke]

I made lots of mistakes when I took this photograph.
First, the sun was behind the bird and not behind me. I knew that Artie Morris says "point your shadow at the bird" but I never really believed it until this year. Now I realize that he is right.

Another mistake was that I did not rotate the camera. To me this picture calls out to be a vertical ("portrait") orientation but I shot it horizontally. That means I had to crop off the sides.

One thing the backlighting does help with is to create a richly colored background.
Do you think this is worth keeping?

These warblers are usually in shrubby thickets along the creeks here at the Prairie Garden Trust (http://prairiegardentrust.org). I was surprised to find this one sitting on a branch a few feet from our house. On the full size image you can see a mirrored image of our house in the catchlight in the birds eye.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.


Canon 1DsMk2 600mm f/10 1/125 sec ISO 400 Tripod used
Processed with Lightrooom 5 and Photoshop CC

[John Robinson]

Henry
We all have our particular views on the subject of back grounds as is prettyobvious. If this were mine I would try to tone the whole backdrop down. Others will definately not agree.I would most likely make a mess of it of course.
The bird aand comp looks fine to me.
John

[Bill Dix]

Worth keeping? You've gotta be kidding. This is a species that I'd give my eyeteeth for; I've only seen them several times. And you got a nice sharp image with good detail and lovely pose, and not hidden in a thicket. One might quibble that the perch is a little large, and you might try to eke out a little detail in the yellows. And yes, I'd tone down at least the brightest parts of the bg, of not all of it. But a keeper in my book, yes indeed.

[Karl Egressy]

Beside all the mistakes it is an excellent image of a rare to see never mind to photograph in the open, species. Great work.

[Holger Leyrer]

I agree with Karl. Great work, Henry :S3:

[Julie Brown]

I agree with the others on the tech points. This is a gorgeous bird and you got a nice sharp portrait. It would be a thrill just to see this bird. Definitely a keeper!:c3:

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

No worries here - birds know nothing about photography! You still have a very good image and retained detail in the blacks.