Chestnut-backed Chickadee

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

D4 300f/2.8 + TC20EIII (600mm) f/6.3 1/1000 ISO2000 manual HH
Exp. +1 in LR, nr, sharpening, cloned a small branch impinging on rump and foreground leaf

I was surprised at the look of the bg. My daughter thought I might have painted it (didn't). Tough to capture these as they flutter from perch to perch.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Jeannean Ryman]

Michael, that's really a neat looking photo. It does look painted! I really wish that one twig wasn't intersecting with the perch though. I did a quick "healing brush" swipe over it (like super quick...just to show you). If you took more time, I'm sure it'd look better. Very nice.

[Dennis Bishop]

This is quite wonderful. I'm not sure whether it was the chickadee or background that captured my attention, first, but the entire image is very engaging. Both the leaf in the upper left and the twig pointing to the chickadee are effective elements. The background is super. If it were mine, I'd crop a bit from the bottom to move the chickadee a little lower, but it's very nice just the way it is.

[Randall Farhy]

Michael, that bg is exceptional, love the impressionist feel to it. While I prefer Jeannean's version -I would also crop in a touch more and clone out the leaf in the upper left. To my eye it competes with the subject as they are similar in size. Fantastic soft light on the subject, with good clarity pose and camera angle. Nicely done-

Randall

[Colin Gilyeat]

Michael, wonferful image, liek the others, I really like the background. I'd keep the twig in the image, for me it adds a little context to the environment. There are times when a more open view is preferable, but in this case, I like the what the twig gives to the image.

Colin

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Jeannean, Dennis, Randall, Colin,

Thanks much for the comments. They are greatly appreciated. Jeannean, thanks for taking the time to do the repost... whiile it's not perfect I think I'm inclined to keep the twig, but it's was good to be able to flip back & forth to see with and without.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Roger Clark]

Hi Michael,

Often people want the background as out of focus and unobtrusive as possible. Your image breaks that idea and wonderfully so. The background really makes the image. I don't recall ever seeing/thinking that before. The background is just out of focus so as not to be distracting, but in focus enough to give it great character. Very well done! I would keep the twig and the leaf as is in the original post.

Roger

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Thanks, Roger.

-Michael-

[Jeff Cashdollar]

This is a challenging subject to capture the opportunity here is subject placement - consider a more defining crop putting focus on the subject (e.g. distracting leaf upper right corner). Use the paper on the screen method. Take a sheet of paper and place it over the screen moving about until you find the sweet spot - crop accordingly - thanks for sharing.