Mockingbird Eye Contact

[Sean McMahon]

Decided to walk to work one morning last year.

Got him along the way on the banks of the Charles River.

Busy background, but I like the "eye contact", impending step, and the forked branch around him.

Thoughts?

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Lens: Canon 75-100 f/5.6
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 800

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

I agree Sean, nice eye conatact and I like the lifted foot. As you mentioned the BG is busy and the lighting looks to have been challening.. Perhaps curves would help this to pop a little more and another round of USM. More of a head turn would be desirable too and perhaps another alternative would be to make this a vertical crop. Thanks for sharing !

[Jason Vaclavek]

The BG is fine for my tatses. I like habitat photos. I would crop this from the left side maybe about a half inch, ust so it removes the thicker branch trunk on the side. And then I think this should be bigger. Your only 500 pixels on the long side.

[Sean McMahon]

Hmm. I'll have to try to post larger than the limit. I try to follow the 800x800 guidelines and end with spretty small shots posted. Others have said my shots are too small, too.

Wow, I agree, I could quick and easy crop that left trunk out for a better shot.

Judy wow, sounds like a lot of Photoshop terms. :-) I use an old version of Pixmntec Rawshootr to convert and so some minor adjustments, but hope to take a CS3 or Elements class at some point. The side lighting really casts a shadow on his left side of his face.

I have about 35 shots of him in all sorts of perches and angles on this branch, most ho-hum mockingbird shots though. But this one hit me. I think it very well may be Vincent Price reincarnated. ;-)

Thanks again, and,

Happy Shooting!