A big welcome to BPN! A colorful fellow to start with. Excellent action, wings up, like the balance on the Lilly pad, the slight head angle our way, composition.
I would try to tone down the whites a bit on the rump, and the yellow water Lilly flower just ahead o f his feet, both are a little overexposed and show some loss of detail.
The background is a bit busy, but that is his world, and in order to get more of him in focus, the trade off was sharper background as well. You could very gently soften the background, particularly in the left upper corner, as it tends to draw my eye.
Overall, a really fun image. Look forward to more.
Thanks Randy! Great feedback. I agree, the background is busy, but yeah, those guys are hard to find without one in my experience. I will go back and see about getting a few more highlights and a bit more blur on the background. All great suggestions. Thanks.
Nice first post and a huge welcome to BPN. Thanks a stack for your membership support. I like the image and the soft light. It is sharp and the near-underwing detail is superb. Bummer that the REDs on the bird's face and the rest of the colors are somewhat faded. My repost addresses Randy's excellent suggestions (and a few of my comments as well).
with love, artie
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
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ps: I tried to fix that WHITEs on the tail but some of them were too hot ...
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BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Thanks for the feedback and the attempt to correct blown whites Artie. Sitting here at work and looking at it, I suspected that would be what I found if I tried. Highlights blown. Certainly on the water lily, but the whites also. Should have checked by blinkies and cut exposure a 1/3 or so.
Welcome! Good looking first frame! Good in-habitat view of this wonderful bird. Sharpness look good but TC on that lens is tough as you're at f/8. Woulda been nice to have another stop of freeze on the bird. I
hardly mind whites on tail. They're minor/peripheral as our eye goes right to his. Yellow legs are money.
Awesome action indeed, and although busy I like the habitat. Good suggestions and advice so far. I have an additional one, and it would be to remove the small black speck in front of the bill. Although tiny, my eye keeps going to it. I'm sure you will enjoy it here on BPN!
All nits already mentioned, so for me, the positives are the low shooting angle, leg and wing positions, and as a fan of environmental shots, I also like the BG
Thanks Mike. I appreciate everyone's feedback. The skill level on this forum is humbling, everyone's comments mean a lot. Hopefully I can continue to improve and close the gap a bit.