Taken in my back yard on a gloomy, rainy day, the norm around here. I wanted to know if the perch overwhelms the bird.
Nikon D4, 1/200, F7.1, 500mm, -2/3EV, ISO 1250
We'll see what others think, but the one thing that bothers me about the perch
is the twig coming up on the right and following the tail. That's kind of throwing
the balance off for me.
Here are my suggestions...
I think if you could remove that twig and the OOF leaves from that branch,
that'll help out the composition.
Then maybe try and remove the OOF leaves growing out of the birds chest.
I think doing those two things will lessen the overwhelming feeling you might
be seeing.
Doug nails the overwhelming feeling with his comment. It seems that the main offender (the twig in line with the junco's tail) is actually the main twig joining the perch to the tree. So I'm not sure how this would be dealt with. The patch in front may be a lot of work with the interlocking leaves and all. Notwithstanding that - this is a cracking shot, excellent exposure and sharpness.
You really nailed the exposure, details and angle of your bird. I like the perch, just don't like the branches in the back b/c they really draw the eye away. If this is a favorite image of yours, I would go ahead and remove the 2 offending small branches and place the bird more to the right out of the center. Might also considering lightening the overall image just a tad. Could you imagine how this one would look with snow on your perch?
I don't think the perch overwhelms the bird, but the bird placement on the perch isn't ideal. The tail/limb area is the most bothersome to my eye. One of the things I'm experimenting with is moving my position to get a better background. Sometimes, it's just a step to the side or a dip in the knees. Sometimes, it's just not possible, but if it is, it sure does make post processing easier.
As others have said Roy, the branches at the birds rump would look better remove but apart from that it's a great shot because the in-focus foreground perch and the out of focus background perch really give the shot some excellent depth.
Junco
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