Anna's Portrait

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Greetings. Shooting up through a tree on this one, knowing that the angle isn't the best. But I kinda liked it cropped down to a portrait... dof from shoulders to mid-beak only. What do you think?



D4 300f/2.8 + TC20EIII (600mm) f/5.6 1/3200 ISO640 Manual custom picture control (raw conversion curve) about +2EV on darks w/saturation boost
NR, toning, detailing, sharpening

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Michael,

As the photographer you control the frame and show us what you want us to see. In this case the branches in the foreground are a bit distracting but in nature we deal with trees and natural habitat but when combined with clip on the tail the image loses something. I might consider a different crop with just the head area or trying again, clipped body parts weaken the image but I do like what you are trying to do. Stay with it, and work the subject lets see some more.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Michael, I really like the detail and colors. The pose would work for me if the whole bird were included, but it feels a bit cramped and cluttered with the branches that Jeff mentions. An area of opportunity in this one is the dark and bright areas of the background. I agree with Jeff that possibly cropping tighter to a 3/4 portrait or even a head shot would make the image stronger.

[John Chardine]

Hi Michael- Love the colours and light. Totally agree that a tighter crop to the head would work very well. I do something about the dark blob in upper part of image.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Jeff, Kerry, John,

Thanks much for the comments. I'll work on this some more & post it when I'm done. I have a better shot of the whole bird that I'll post as well. You're comments help me with something I run into fairly frequently which is to balance the parts that I like in an image against those that are, uh, less wonderful. Thanks again.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Alan Lillich]

Having a lot of these guys in our yard, I like this as presented. It would be nicer with a blue sky, but hummers seem to like to sit in clutter. The beak is in a clear part of the BG, the face and much of the breast is sharp. Shooting up for a portrait empowers the subject. I get a great sense of him watching his domain. I do think lightening the dark blob at the top to match the other BG would help.