Tree Swallow

[James Littlejohn]

Hello. I've been browsing birdphotographers.net for a couple of weeks now and thought I'd join. I've been into bird photography for about a year and a half. I'm always looking to improve.

The image linked in this post is a tree swallow from April (I hope the link worked. I couldn't figure out how to attach an image to a post). I think it's one of my better images but it's always good to hear other views. It's not crystal clear but overall I think it's an attractive shot. Comments and criticisms welcome. Thanks.
James

Canon 40D + 100-400L
400mm
1/400
f/5.6
ISO 200
Image was underexposed and took a fair amount of post work to recover adequately.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3608/3415848522_e308373685_o.jpg

[Steve Canuel]

Welcome. Beautiful bird. I like the light color of the BG. Biggest problem I see is that the bird is looking the wrong way (out of the open space you have on the left). I might also back off on the lightening of the bird as that will return some detail and color "pop" to the feathers.

[Harshad Barve]

Big welcome to BPN James
What a beautiful bird , exposure and sharpness looks spot on
TFS

[Bruce Enns]

Welcome James! A nice first post...I really like the soft light, crisp details of the bird and the colours in the BG. The crop doesn't bother me (the bird looking 'the wrong way') because I really get the feeling that he is looking at me. More troublesome for me is the OOF branch in the BG.

Keep them coming!

Cheers!
Bruce

[Gail Spitler]

James - The HA seems to work here for me, and I like the second oof branch, it echoes the structure in the perch. If it were mine, I'd think about cropping a bit off the bottom so that the main perch comes from the right side, say 1/4 inch above the bottom.
Cheers
Gail

[Phil Ertel]

Hi James, Welcome to BPN. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I think the bird looks pretty good for being under exposed. The head angle as a result of the look back is effective. I think your depth-of-field is sufficient for this presentation as I see good details from head to tail. If you would have pointed your camera a bit to our right you could have placed the bird more to the left. Most folks tend to like the birds looking into the frame as opposed to looking out. As presented I agree with the suggestion of cropping a little off the bottom. Also if your ethics allow I would remove the out-of-focus branch in the background. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to seeing more of your images.

[James Littlejohn]

Thank you for the comments everyone - I appreciate them. The bird facing towards the edge of the frame never bothered me much in this shot. I do understand the convention for having the bird look into the picture space and I often follow it. The OOF branches I have mixed feelings about. If I were painting this (if I could paint), I'd have something occupying the same space. Not quite in the same way, though.
The suggestion for cropping a bit from the bottom might help the photo, too.
Thanks again.
James