Violet-Crowned Hummingbird Notecard

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks: This photo won't follow rule of thirds as it was proportioned for 4.35 x 5.5" Folding note cards which I have an inventory of about 200. Photo was captured at Madera Kubo B&B, Madera canyon, AZ

Olympus E-3, Zukio 2.8-3.5, 50-200 mm (equiv. 100-400mm)@155 mm
F/6.3, 1/250s, ISO 200, 0.00 eV, CWA, Fill flash, Olympus electronic flash FL-59R

CC's always welcome and appreciated

[Diane Miller]

There are many cases when the rule of thirds does more harm than good. This composition is very nice for the subject, and you caught a very nice moment, but you might consider removing the lint from the wing.

I'm seeing some strange artifacts in the image. Some are JPEG artifacts that make the image looks as if it was enlarged from a downsized image or a severe crop. Was it captured as a JPEG?

There are also some strange-looking areas in the BG, below the tail and against the right edge of the flower. And it seems odd that the BG is so much darker to the left of the flower than on the right. It might just be a coincidence of where a shadow fell, but it's something I would correct in processing.

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Diane; You are sure sharp eyed and know photography, all your points are sure valid, and I think I was carried away by the Violet head. It was not a large crop, just the opposite, taken in a somber light underneath a canopy of trees that required some flash. Wish I could find the original but found one 3300 x 2550 px, 1.0 MB. I shoot both Raw & JPG. Not sure what one I kept, but cleaned this one up a bit from the full sized one. Looking back I don't like this one, however, at 5.5 x 4.25 it looks pretty good. Looking at it now, I would have been better off removing the foot as it looks unnatural. Wish I had the original now. Thanks for your astute remarks.

[Diane Miller]

Much better!! It happens to all of us -- a shot we really have high hopes for turns out to be not quite as perfect as we had hoped. But it was a good try, and may still make a nice card. It would be easy to clone out the foot -- I hadn't noticed it.

Sounds like you have the right idea -- shoot raw and keep the best ones for future processing, as both you and the tools improve! I will admit, organizing the files can be frustrating and time-consuming.

[Arthur Morris]

Better but not good. Unless you were going for some sort of filltered effect the image is over-saturated and over-sharpened.... Though it is a bit too tight for me the basic image design is fine.