The perch? It's very beautiful, I don't find it distracting at all. Might clone out the OOF flower peeking into frame at left though. Great bird, wish for a better head position, but that's minor in this great photograph.
I agree about the OOF flower on the left. I do find the head position to tell a story on this shot. It looks as though the bird had found something it is about to eat. Nice shot.
I don't think it's distracting at all. People might not agree on the head position but in this case I think it's great because the parula is just doing his thing. :) I'm not so sure about the OOF blossoms on the left.
I vote for beautiful! I would clone out the oof flower on the left as well as the tiny leaf at the bottom of the frame by the branch. I would rather the bird had given you a little better head angle, but the head angle here is certainly acceptable. Very pretty image!____________________
I'll vote for beautiful as well. I did play around with covering the one bit of the perch right in front of the bird with my thumb and it seems to work well that way too.
This is an awesome capture Matthew.... besides the oof flower, I would consider cloning off the small bit at the end of the perch that goes through the frame. It would look nice, imo to have the branch end before the bottom of the frame. Should be easy as there is a nice leaf to clone off up to for a believable transition.
Matthew, a sweet shot no matter what, but since you asked, here's my thought on it. The perch gets the attention because the bird is looking at it too. If you got a frame with the birds head up and looking at the viewer, then the power of the image would go to the bird (which I would prefer). It's better than all my Parula shots, that's for sure.
All depending upon how much was left of the plant at the end, I might have considered incorporating more of that into the image as the bird looking into it, makes for an interesting story (even if the bird has to be a little smaller in the frame), or cloning out as cw mentions. I also agree about the OOF element. Very nice image though as is.
Matthew, I think it is a great image and all has been said. Also wanted to Thank You for your weather report, for planning my trip for the Wood Ducks. It worked out great!! Nice to see you are on the new forum.
Best,
Howard.
The perch is fabulous. The bird is fabulous. I also vote for cloning the OOF in the lower left out. Also I would selectively brighten his face just a smidgen. Outstanding image, sir.