This is my first image post to BPN. I've lurked here for many months.
An image of a House Wren taken a little before 8:30 am at Herbst Woods,
Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania. There were several wrens
playing chase around this old wooden fence.
Canon 1D mkII
300mm f4L IS
2x II extender
550EX speedlight
RRS B-84 flash arm
BushHawk 320D
Better Beamer
1/250th @ f11, ISO 200
ETTL -1 1/3
Pretty bird with a nice perch and BG. The bird could stand to be brightened a bit, and also sharpened. This photo may work better as a landscape crop. If you prefer the present composition, I would remove the dark OOF object to the left of the perch. Thanks for sharing!
A beautiful wren.....in an inquisitive pose. I like the perch...especially with the touch of lichen and the green BG. As is, I think it's a bit too dark and as Doug stated....could go lighter and a little sharper. I'm not crazy about the dark OOF area either. Perhaps a different crop or clone. This one has nice potential.
I do like this image and thought a little bit more about it. I see Robert's view of the perch. I decided to play a little with this one. I'm at school on a little laptop with one eye on my students and the other eye on the laptop but you might take a look and let me know what you think. I cropped off much of the bottom, added canvas to the left, used some curves to lighten the bird and levels to lower the brightness over part of the perch, then a touch USM.
Many thanks to all for the critique and especially the extra work by Lana. I like the new composition and appreciate the effort you made to show a different look.
I respectfully disagree with the opinions on the brightness of the wren. What I see on my screen are rich, deep colors on the bird that agree with how I measured and blended fill with ambient. In the updated version the colors are not blown but are washed out. That is not my voice, or my intention.
Being that the consensus is that my original is too dark I suspect that the difference may lie in monitor calibration with my own not conforming to the others. Calibration or not, that's ok with me. I don't mind marching to my own drum and will continue to do so. Still, I do appreciate the differing viewpoints and offer thanks to each of you for sharing your ideas.
Great image Kevin,
I like the composition and the colors of your bird. The nice green background makes him stand out. I like the repost very much. The perch was a bit over powering...congrats Kevin, keep them coming...:cool:
House Wren
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