At Rest

[Jerry Taylor]

This female Costas Hummingbird (I think) would come to this plant every day during a visit to Arizona. I really like the interesting shapes of the perch. Canon 6D, Sigma 150-500, f6.3, 1/640, ISO 400.

[Glenn Pure]

Jerry, I simply love the artful arrangement of stems in this and the bird's perch position and pose. There are a few technical issues that, if addressed, would really raise this shot. The highlights look a little blown to me, especially on the stem the bird is using as a perch and on the flank and under bill of the bird. The shadows on the bird also look a little dark. Both should be easy to fix with standard highlight and shadow adjustments or using curves. Selecting just the bird and applying some specific lighting adjustments there may also be the way to go here. The other issue is the bird looks soft. You could try applying some unsharp mask to see if this helps. Is this a big crop of the original frame? May explain why it is a little soft? Certainly worth having another go at this frame, I think.

[Frank sheets]

Love the framing here but have to agree with Glen, the image seems a little soft. Is Glen correct in his assumption that this a significant crop? That 6D has a wonderful sensor and is capable of helping create some wonderful images. Great composition here but would love to see it a little sharper.

[Jerry Taylor]

Glenn and Frank: Thanks much for the comments. This seems much sharper on my computer, but I certainly agree with your comments. It is a sizable crop, and the light was low, so... I should have studied it in more detail before I posted, my bad.