Broad-billed Hummingbird ready for bakeoff

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks, While up at Kubo B&B, Madera Canyon today I took this photo under overcast skies & dappled light amongst the trees . . .
Olympus E-510, Zuiko 75-300mm ED
Aperture priority, Center weighted Average
1/160s F/6.3
ISO 200
0.00EV
Auto WB
316 mm
Fill flash +0.3 TTL
Slight editing, crop,resize, tad of brightening with curves

[Lance Peters]

Gus - great pose- good eye contact - looks sharp - well done. Works for me :)

The only thing I would try to do would be tone done the white stripe in the BG that intersects the birds head. Might add a bit of NR on the background.

[Harold Davis]

bird looks fantastic!! agree with lance about the white stripe. havent seen you for a while. good to see you back!

[Alfred Forns]

His Gus Another agreement on the light stripe Should be an easy fix Love the pose looks like he is getting ready to dive Might take a little of the bottom Excellent image !!!

[Jodee Novak]

Wow, Gus. Awesome capture. I really love the composition with the bird on the right of the frame and the space in front of him - it gives the image a feeling of anticipation - he looks like he's ready to launch himself right off that perch! Great work!

[Gail Spitler]

Terrific image, Gus. Well done. The lighter stripe doesn't bother me, but I understand that it might some.
Gail

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Flks,

Thanks for looking at the little guy. Appreciate all your comments, and though the white line doesn't bother me, appears as a spotlight on center stage, I had a go at removing it and cropping a tad off the bottom, which I like. Hope you like it . . . Gus :D

[Bruce Murden]

Gus, both images work for me, but I really do prefer the first. With the white line, I would have liked more of it behind the bird's head to highlight it more (like it would have given you time to move a few inches!), and maybe a little darker. Removing it gives more OOF negative space to fly into, which I like, but the head is not as clearly separated from the BG. The sceond crop is better for me too.

[Alfred Forns]

I like your last re post Gus Thee is just a little funny area around the bill from the light streak Slightly lighter bg might even work better since the bird will stand out more !!!

[carole wiley]

I too prefer it with the light streak gone. I might be tempted to crop a bit off of the bottom. I love the bird and the pose, it is beautiful.

[Katie Rupp]

This is a winner, Gus and good to see you back! I like your second repost and could be even better with a little more separation as suggested by Alfred.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the re-post better but with QMs you could get much tighter to the bird and eliminate the remaining light halo/shadows... Great pose but subject a bit on the ratty side.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great capture Gus. Excellent colors and overall composition.
A big congrats,

[Gus Cobos]

I like your repost Gus,
Your little guy looks a wee bit over sharpened for my taste. The colors are nice and vibrant...:cool:

[Desmond Chan]

Great post and good timing ! Problem I have is the body looks too shiny, especially the repost. Probably because of the flash and later on over-processing.