I made lots of mistakes when I took this photograph.
First, the sun was behind the bird and not behind me. I knew that Artie Morris says "point your shadow at the bird" but I never really believed it until this year. Now I realize that he is right.
Another mistake was that I did not rotate the camera. To me this picture calls out to be a vertical ("portrait") orientation but I shot it horizontally. That means I had to crop off the sides.
One thing the backlighting does help with is to create a richly colored background.
Do you think this is worth keeping?
These warblers are usually in shrubby thickets along the creeks here at the Prairie Garden Trust. I was surprised to find this one sitting on a branch a few feet from our house. On the full size image you can see a mirrored image of our house in the catchlight in the birds eye.
All comments and suggestions are welcome.
Canon 1DsMk2 600mm f/10 1/125 sec ISO 400 Tripod used
Processed with Lightrooom 5 and Photoshop CC
Henry
We all have our particular views on the subject of back grounds as is prettyobvious. If this were mine I would try to tone the whole backdrop down. Others will definately not agree.I would most likely make a mess of it of course.
The bird aand comp looks fine to me.
John
Worth keeping? You've gotta be kidding. This is a species that I'd give my eyeteeth for; I've only seen them several times. And you got a nice sharp image with good detail and lovely pose, and not hidden in a thicket. One might quibble that the perch is a little large, and you might try to eke out a little detail in the yellows. And yes, I'd tone down at least the brightest parts of the bg, of not all of it. But a keeper in my book, yes indeed.
I agree with the others on the tech points. This is a gorgeous bird and you got a nice sharp portrait. It would be a thrill just to see this bird. Definitely a keeper!
Kentucky Warbler
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