Try Again

[CM Prince]

Golden-fronted Woodpecker Male



Nikon D90
1/800 sec. at f / 9.0
ISO 400, 340 mm
tripod

All C & C greatly appreciated.

Just trying to improve.

Thanks in advance for looking and any reply.

C M

[Mike Poole]

Lovely looking bird and the neak is just about far enough away from the tree for the shot to work.

I'd suggest that there is too much negative space to the right of the bird which gives the shot a slightly unbalanced look. Depending upon how much of a crop this is, you might be better advised to go for a tighter vertical frame, so lose some of the green, add a bit more of the trunk as well as some more frame above and below the bird

[CM Prince]

Thanks for the reply Mike

This photo is as taken.

I have not crop, adjust, or change any setting.

I will have to move camera and change lens setting for bigger view.

[Edward Arthur]

Very nice crisp shot of the the bird. Well done. I have no problem with the space all around but the saturation of the BG takes my eyes away from the subject. Maybe take it down a bit with curves or desaturate?

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi C M, I took the liberty to edit your image to show you how I would present it. I opened the image in Photoshop Elements 10, cropping it tighter to eliminate some of the background on the left, top, and bottom. Then using the Paint Brush tool with a soft bristle brush set to 20% opacity I blended and softened the dark spots in the background. If the whole tail was showing it would have taken this image over the top. Here is how I would present it if mine.

[Diane Miller]

Joseph's crop gives much more emphasis to the bird. The amount of BG in the original is too much for the subject, and the saturation draws attention away from the bird. The bird is a little low in contrast -- I'd suggest darkening the blacks.

You have a nice bird and tree here, but it is always a major improvement to present an adjusted image, both for cropping and adjustments in the raw converter and in PS. The wonderful thing about all this digital stuff is what we can do to the raw material.