Female Red Wing BB with Insects

[Becky Clark]

Hi,

This image is from last summer and I like it, but am curious what others think. Are the out of focus plants on the left distracting and is it sharp enough, too sharp or..?

It was taken on an overcast morning in the Willamette Valley in Oregon (as most of my days off tend to be!) and here are the specs -
Date/Time: 2007:07:02 08:49:11
Shutter speed: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous
ISO: 200
Lens: EF300mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal length: 420mm
AF mode: AI Focus AF
Image size: 3504 x 2336
Image quality: Raw


Thanks!

Becky

[Gus Cobos]

Becky, Welcome to the BPN family...:) I like your composition the colors and details on your subject are good. I would suggest moving your bird a little to the left...

[Alfred Forns]

Big Welcome Becky !!!!

I think cropping the left side would improve the image. Normally as Gus pointed out its good having he bird away from the middle. In this case the crop takes care of the oof leafs and placement.

I like the exposure setting. With overcast you can photograph all day It is a blessing !!!! The one flower cutting across the bird and just to the right are distracting. You normally don't want something oof right in front of the bird. The rest don't look bad at all. Sharpness wise it looks fine and so is the post processing !!! Looking forward to many more !!!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Becky, I did a little work on your composition, I hope you like it. I cropped from the left of the frame to off set your subject. I cloned out the flower from the left. I increased the saturation a bit and did a little sharpening...:D

[Becky Clark]

Thank you Gus and Alfred!

Thanks for taking the time to answer and provide suggestions, and thanks Gus for showing me what it could look like with just a bit more processing!

[Gus Cobos]

My pleasure Becky, I just did it very quickly, if you take it and work the edges along the birds tail, you can feather the background color that I gave you more evenly... I do like your image... just keep them coming...;)

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great capture Becky, very sharp. excellent repost by Gus.

[Dave Phillips]

that's quite a mouthful Becky......keep after the birds and "watch" them closely, look at the habitat, try to pick you background elements and soon you will have very good closeups

Hi Becky, I did a little work on your composition, I hope you like it. I cropped from the left of the frame to off set your subject. I cloned out the flower from the left. I increased the saturation a bit and did a little sharpening...:D

IMO, you have some good ideas Gus but I'll be honest and say I generally see oversharpening halo not in original