Ruby-throated Hummingbird

[Janet Heintz]

I noticed this little guy kept landing on my morning glory vine while I was watering my flowers. I captured this image while he was keeping an eye on me.
Enjoy
Comments Appreciated
Janet

Canon 7D
100-400IS Lens - @400mm
ISO 500
160/5.6

[Richard Stern]

Hi Janet,

Overall very nicely done, with a sharp image, good placement of the bird in relation to the leaves, a nice catchlight, and great uncluttered bg. I would prefer a more horizontal crop, with less room below the branch, and also a little off the right, so that the bird's bill leads the viewer's eye more into the upper left corner of the image. I also wonder if a little vibrance or increased exposure applied to the head and hind-neck would make for a more "perky" image.

Richard

[Bill Dix]

Sweet image, Janet. Love the juxtaposition of the bird and buds, the light on the leaf, and the lovely BG. Good points by Richard, IMHO. A bit off the bottom for sure. I tried a 10-second test of adding a blending "Soft Light" layer at 30% opacity, which popped the bird nicely. There may be better ways to do it.

[John Guastella]

Sweet image; agree with Richard's and Bill's comments about sharpness, BG as well as cropping suggestions. Image would have been improved a bit if you had stopped down to f/7.1 or f/8 to get the entire bird in focus. The light conditions may have required you to increase the ISO to 800 (to maintain a reasonable SS), but the 7D can handle ISO 800 with appropriate NR in PP.

John

[Stu Bowie]

Super pose Janet, and I like the curved perch. Killer BG. I feel the HB is a little soft, and it looks like the focus point was on the taller stem of the plant.

[Grace Scalzo]

That perch and background are super sweet and if you incorporate some of the suggestions that you have rec'd so far, you're going to have a beauty here. Even just some selective sharpening of the hb might do the trick.

[Jim Fenton]

Great background and beautiful subject,

I think that you might be better off with a more traditional crop, especially loosuing some from the bottom.

Focus point definitely appears to be higher up to the left a bit, but you might be able to overcome this with some more careful sharpening.

5.6 is a rather skinny DOF at 400 mm if this was created at close range?

[Janet Heintz]

I tweaked the image a little as suggested. Any better?
Comments Welcome
Janet