Bullock's Oriole

[Dona Hilkey]

A bright Bullock's Oriole in an aspen tree. Would the image be improved if the branches in the lower right were removed?

Thank you,
Dona Hilkey
Meeker, Colorado

Canon 40D, Canon 500IS plus 1.4X, Aperture Priority, f7.1, ISO 400, Exp.Comp. 0, RAW, PS3

[Gus Cobos]

Nicely done Dona,
Like the composition and exposure. The colors on your bird are vibrant with sharp detail...:D

[Fabs Forns]

I'd keep them, they balance your compo, it may look left heavy otherwise. They are not intrusive and give a sense of habtat.

Very nice as presented, beautiful colors, exposure right on!

[Doug Brown]

I agree with Fabs. I think they balance the image nicely.

[Alfred Forns]

Also agree Vibrant colors and all so complementing Particularly like the feel !!!

[Jim Poor]

Real nice. I like that BG color. Great details on the bird, but there is a very slight halo visible on the back.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Dona,
Glad you posted this as I now know what I saw yesterday down here. Great colors and sharpness. I like the BG color and the inclusion of all the sprouting leaves. I think the branches are great as they don't block the view of your subject. I would personally remove the top bare portion of the one on the right though as it merges with the leaves on top. I think the little bit of open space/ BG that becomes available frees up the bird a bit (if that makes any sense). Very nice as is.
Steve

[andysmothers]

Beautiful composition and focus is spot on. Colors are vibrant and everything is perfectly exposed. I applaud the rich contrasts between the orange and greens --- feels like I am looking out a window. Great work --- great looking bird. We never see anything nearly that hue down here in Louisiana --- thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Andy

[Dona Hilkey]

Thanks for the kind comments. I will leave the branches in. I agree with Steve that removing the top portion of the bare branch that merges with the one above might improve the image and will try that. Jim, I am unable to see the halo on the back of the bird so I don't know what to do about that. Fabiola, thank you for pointing out the branches balance the image. I am learning .........
Dona
Meeker, Colorado

[Jim Poor]

Hi Donna, it is really a TINY halo. It took me a while to figure out what folks were talking about when mentioning halos, but now that I've seen them, they really stick out to me. Most "normal" folks probably won't notice though.

If you want to see it more vividly, you can take the web version of this image and apply a HUGE amount of sharpening to the whole image and look for the white line on the shoulder/back of the bird. Try 500% and then slide the radius slider up until you see it.

Like I said though, the halo is VERY minor here.