Female Baltimore Oriole on a Cattail

[Daniel Grossi]

169273
I really think this is one of my best images ever, and being part of this group has contributed to me getting shots like this greatly. I would love for someone to pick away at any flaws or discuss improvements that could have been made. My own critique after the fact would be in the settings. 1/1000, f/8, ISO-320 for the same exposure over what I actually shot it at.

D500
Nikkor 600mm f/4e FL
1/1600
f/5.6
ISO-400
Center Weight Average

Cleveland, Ohio
May 2017
Hot and humid, partly cloudy 4 hours after sunrise

[William Dickson]

I agree with you Daniel, it probably is one of your best. I am sure others will give comments to improve the image, but to me I think it looks fab. Lovely detail, colours and HA on the bird. Great looking perch and I like the crop you have chosen. Very nice BG as well with colours which show the bird real nice. Well done mate. Nice one

Will

[Daniel Grossi]

I agree with you Daniel, it probably is one of your best. I am sure others will give comments to improve the image, but to me I think it looks fab. Lovely detail, colours and HA on the bird. Great looking perch and I like the crop you have chosen. Very nice BG as well with colours which show the bird real nice. Well done mate. Nice one

Will

Thanks William! Head angle is something I've been paying very close attention to lately. I've been passing on a lot of stuff I would have considered great shots 6 months ago.

[Isaac Grant]

Very pretty shot and I love the unique perch to get an oriole on. Excellent background as well really sets the bird off nicely. So now I am going to be super picky to point out some stuff that I try and pay attention to as well. I think the bird could maybe use a tiny bit more sharpening but am open to the fact that it may just be soft feathers on the bird and they may not have the same texture as other feathers I am used to looking at. The lighter green area near the head is something that some you may want to clone out as it pulls the eye a bit away from the bird. Or perhaps burn the area a little bit so it matches the rest of the background. The darker area below and to the left and on the right edge of the bird looks a tiny bit grainy and may benefit for a little more NR. Also I would probably move the bird over a little to the right and add that room to the left. As is your birds head is left of center but the bird is looking left. I would prefer to move her over to give her more room to look into. These little things can have a large impact on the final output and is the kind of nitpicky stuff that really can turn a really nice shot into a great shot.

[Daniel Grossi]

Very pretty shot and I love the unique perch to get an oriole on. Excellent background as well really sets the bird off nicely. So now I am going to be super picky to point out some stuff that I try and pay attention to as well. I think the bird could maybe use a tiny bit more sharpening but am open to the fact that it may just be soft feathers on the bird and they may not have the same texture as other feathers I am used to looking at. The lighter green area near the head is something that some you may want to clone out as it pulls the eye a bit away from the bird. Or perhaps burn the area a little bit so it matches the rest of the background. The darker area below and to the left and on the right edge of the bird looks a tiny bit grainy and may benefit for a little more NR. Also I would probably move the bird over a little to the right and add that room to the left. As is your birds head is left of center but the bird is looking left. I would prefer to move her over to give her more room to look into. These little things can have a large impact on the final output and is the kind of nitpicky stuff that really can turn a really nice shot into a great shot.

Awesome Isaac! This is the kind of feedback I'm looking for. I agree with all of this, though I'm hesitant to darken that background area. I really like the idea of leaving more room to the left. Once again a shot I considered "great" in my mind was reduced to really good and I love it. It's that nitpicky stuff that's going to take images like this to the next level. Thanks again Isaac.