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Been after an image of this bird for a long time. They really know how to hide behind foliage.
Hence the slightly higher angle than i'd like but it's my best Wren shot so far!
All critiques and opinons welcomed.
regards.
Stu.
D300 + Sig 500 4.5
1/320 @F6.3
ISO 800
I really like this wren! and even though the background is cluttered, I like it. I think it complements the wren very nicely! I like habitat images. great sharp face. and while the feet are slightly oof, I don't mind that as it also helps the background go a bit softer. Yes, a slightly lower angle would be nice, but I would be absolutely thrilled to have gotten an image like this!
thanks for submitting it.
Wrens are certainly not easy birds to capture, and you did a good job of getting a non-obscured view. For me, while the eye is sharp, the beak tip looks a little soft. I think I would prefer it in a horizontal format, perhaps cropped from the bottom.
Congratulations on a difficult capture! The monochrome effect gives this image a nice feel. I agree with Ben's suggestion regarding a horizontal crop
I agree with all of the above comments, and I too would prefer a more horizontal crop with a bit more of the bottom. I think you did a great job of obtaining such a close image of a bird that hardly ever stands still. To me the sharpness of both the eye and the beak look fine.
Richard
Stuart, what a beautiful wren portrait! The first thing I noticed after looking at the wren was the yellow area right above and to the left of his face. That was so colorful and slightly brighter than the surrounding foliage and it was grabbing my attention. I used Nik's Viveza to pinpoint that area and calm it down a bit. I also cropped it so the eye was in a ROT's position and then went into Nik's Color Efex software and added a very subtle vignette by choosing the darken edges/lighten center option. This is what I came up with. (You could certainly do all this in PS but you'd have to mask and do a vignette - the Nik software makes it easier IMO.)
I'd be thrilled to have this in my collection. You should be, too!
Thanks for the guidance. Definately better with a horizontal crop. Julie, like your retouch will treat the original along similar lines. This image does have a vignette, though only very slight. I'm not a big fan of heavy vignettes and would like to keep the 'airy' feel around the bird.
Thanks again.
Regards.
Stu.
