I wonder if this image would be improved had I extended the canvas on the left side, as this was Full frame.
I realize the perch is not the best but it is natural.
Canon 30D
500 f/4 IS + TC 1.4
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO: 400
Exposure Program: Manual
Full Frame
1 Hand Held from car
Critique and comments are most welcomed
thanks for looking
06-02-2008, 01:06 PM
John Chardine
This is a beautiful portrait of this species. If you were so inclined you could easily add some background to the left side of the image. If you had a slightly better head angle with the head turned toward you a little, the closeness of the left side would not be so noticeable.
06-02-2008, 01:30 PM
Judy Lynn Malloch
Beautiful capture Darren with excellent exposure and detail and sharp. I agreee with adding more canvas on the left to give him room to fly out and perhaps crop a little off the bottom as the perch does not add a lot to this beautiful image. Thanks form sharing.
06-02-2008, 02:50 PM
Manos Papadomanolakis
Nice pose,details and bg,agree for a bit room on the left
06-02-2008, 04:02 PM
Rich Ikerd
Perfect details in the dark feathers Darren - not always an easy task. Head position could be better, but its still a nice image of this species. Agree on the additional canvas to the left.
06-02-2008, 04:47 PM
Fabs Forns
Sweet plumage detail and colors, the smooth green BG really makes it stand out. You caught the great iridescence well.
Only a bit of a head turn would be a plus iIMO.
About the perch, if you use the Burn tool on it, it could go a little less noticeable.
Big welcome to BPN!
06-02-2008, 05:53 PM
Maxis Gamez
Lovely colors and details. I would tone down the highlights in the stick.
06-02-2008, 05:59 PM
Doug Brown
Terrific feather detail and iridescence. I agree with the excellent suggestions posted earlier.
06-02-2008, 06:17 PM
Kaushik Balakumar
SHHHARRRRP with excellent details.
06-02-2008, 06:23 PM
Jim Poor
Beautiful bird that shows the iridescent feathers well. There is a small sharpening halo that is fairly bright under the tail and less so under the breast. Selective sharpening inside the boundaries of the bird would eliminate that really easily.
As for adding canvass, that is one approach. Another might be to crop a bit from the top and bottom. Less empty green top and bottom would make the green on the sides appear more expansive by comparison.
If this were mine, I would tone down the shine on the legs a bit, but I'd still be happy to see this pop up during my download.
06-02-2008, 06:23 PM
James Shadle
1 Attachment(s)
Darren,
What a beautiful subject.
You nailed the sharpness and exposure.
The feather detail and pure color background make this special.
IMO this image could be even stronger with a little looser composition, the subjects head turned to at least parallel to the image plane and the perch "burned" in as Fabs mentioned.
The perch tweak was a quickie, but it will give you an idea of the possibilities.
Unfortunately, many times this is necessary due to current digital capture limitations.
Thanks for sharing,
James
06-02-2008, 06:57 PM
DarrenMcKenna
some good points made here, thanks all. I did some tweaking to the perch awhile back with the burn tool, but decided against it, this perch was a trainwreck from the get go and I think these little imperfections aren't so bad :)
06-02-2008, 07:11 PM
Hugh J McLaughlin
Darren; Lots of detail and a great BG to compliment the subject. Nits have been covered.
Hugh
06-03-2008, 09:37 AM
Blake Shadle
Really love the detail and the solid background helps your subject pop. The lighting was just right to capture the iridescence of this birds feathers. Agree that a slight head turn would make a nice improvement.
09-04-2008, 10:39 PM
Maxis Gamez
I forgot to mention that the bird looks to tight in the frame as the beak and tail is almost touching each end. I have to agree with James!