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Michael Lloyd
01-17-2008, 03:00 PM
This is one of my favorite birds

http://images110.fotki.com/v1114/photos/4/42560/3078775/Scissortail_M4L3502s-vi.jpg

Philippe Collard
01-17-2008, 06:21 PM
Hello Michael,

I understand why it is a favorite of yours, what an amazing bird. That flycatcher looks sharp with plenty of details and the background isn't too distracting despite the well lit branches. The composition is a bit unbalanced though because you did not give much room to the bird in the direction he is looking. I believe it would be much better with more space at the left hand side. It also looks like the whites are a tad bit burned but I understand it must be difficult to nail an exposure because this bird is all contrast! I bet Fabs could offer you a nice advice on how to deal with it here ;)

Actually I was surprised to see this picture because the thumbnail in the forum shows another one, I think you should post it too. It looks really cool!

Cheers,

Philippe.

Philippe Collard
01-17-2008, 07:10 PM
Actually I just found this thread with good tips on how to save whites :
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=834

Michael Lloyd
01-18-2008, 01:08 AM
Philippe,

Thank you. I agree that the original composition was unbalanced. I have no idea why I cropped it that way. I took a look at the raw file and I think I was able to recover the whites without hurting the image very much. I replaced the image (again) with a newer version.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Christine Hudnall
01-21-2008, 02:21 PM
Hi Mike,

Like Philippe, I too would like for you to post (or repost) the image that is actually showing as the thumbnail. What originally caught my eye was that gorgeous green background! :)

As for the edited image above, are you sure you didn't plan for the rust colored lower belly to match the rusty fence-wire? ;)

It is a beautiful bird, and the grass/branch is far enough behind that it doesn't bother me much, although if it were my image I would probably try and tone down the part by the beak. On the other hand, it draws my eye into the image from the corner. Don't you just love catch-22's!

It may just be my eyes playing tricks, but the image seems a little soft, like it is just slightly <acronym title="out of focus">oof</acronym>. Again, not a bad thing necessarily, maybe a slight sharpening for content, not necessarily all over though.

Just my thoughts...

Michael Lloyd
01-24-2008, 11:51 PM
Thanks again Phillipe and Christine. Here's a version of the thumbnail-

http://images34.fotki.com/v1079/photos/4/42560/3078775/STFC_M4L7545s-vi.jpg