fledgling bluebird

[Ann Gray]

I know how to add canvas, but I am submitting this one with minimal LR edits.

This bird is still being fed my the mom! and landed on my new "perch"....

hand held with Canon 7D mark II and 100-400 mm lens with 1.4 extender.....f/10, 1/800 sec, ISO 200...taken around 6 Pm in my backyard.

[Andrew Harrell]

Hi Ann! Lovely little tyke! Can just start to see some blue on the wings .....

You are saying this is pretty much how it came out of the camera? I really think the pic needs some head room canvas and ideally some bottom as well, but maybe you got cut off there and so adding bottom would be pretty difficult (it would be for me at my skill level).

If this was mine, I would consider either removing the twig in the lower right, or perhaps even cropping right side to remove, although that might make things a bit too tight.

As for focus, while it seems to be right on the head/eye area, but my eye keeps getting drawn to the white fledgling feathers on the left side of the bird (right side in pic), especially nearer the leg.. They seem either a bit soft or slightly OOF. Maybe not OOF, maybe some slight movement of the bird or wind? I would think at f/10 you would have had sufficient DOF to get most of the bird in focus ......... hoping some others will comment on what they think is happening there.

Will these guys continue to hang around for a while -- will we get a chance for you to post some pics of the gradual color change? :)

AP

[Ann Gray]

yes, that is how it came out of the camera...and I agree it needs head room...I was almost too close!
I don't know how long they will stay...mom is still feeding them, but they are starting to soon around....

thanks for your comments,
ann gray

[Doug West]

For the next opportunity, I'd try without the 1.4x. With the toes being cut off, you were
to close...or go vertical the next time, which would include the toes and tail.

Doug

[Adhika Lie]

Very nice pose, Ann! All have been said above. AP made a good point about the bright side chest. Consider burning it a little maybe?

[Diane Miller]

Nice catch with a pleasant BG. Nice sharpness, tonalities and color but it is cropped way too close top and bottom. You don't say if you were zoomed back to 100mm, but the File Info in PS shows 420mm, so you had a long way to zoom wider. This would also have been the perfect image to flip the camera to vertical -- a good skill to have. Including all the tail is important when possible, and room for the "virtual tail" even of the tip is hidden.

Your image is only 800 pixels wide -- post at full size for better critique -- 1200 wide x 1000 tall.

Hope to see more of these guys!

[Ann Gray]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I am pretty sure this group has flown away, but I have another pair feeding babies in another house...so I will get more opportunities, I hope!