Merlin at West End

[Joe Senzatimore]

Attracted by the small amount of bird activity , this Merlin just sat for about 10 minutes and waited for an opportunity that never happened. Good light for a short period of time , then the cloud cover took over.
320ISO f5.6 at 1/500th
About a 30% crop

[Fabs Forns]

I like your placement of the subject in the frame. Traditionally, he would need to face the picture instead of out, but I can live with this brokrn rule. The stick shooting out of the corner of the frame is a no-no in art rules, since it emphasizes the rectangular shape of the frame.
Gorgeous light!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful pose and beautiful lighting Joe. I agree with Fabs on the stick and wonder if it is a tad over exposed. Maybe just my monitor but a great capture Joe and thanks for sharing.

[LouBuonomo]

Ahem... not when I was with you !!

[Rob Palmer]

Very nice pose and I like the framing. Does seem a tad overexposed.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the branch coming in from the corner. I learned to do that with diagonals and teach folks to do the same. Not sure where Fabs' "rules" came from... The image as presented is both too bright and too SAT-ed. When I opened it in Photoshop all of the light areas on the breast were overexposed. I reduced the SAT and all the details came back. Then a Levels ADJ and a crop, and voila.

It continues to amaze me how good photographers and consistently make good images and then consistently ruin them in Photoshop. Call it blatant advertising if you will, but by following the recipe in my Digital Basics File you can make your images look great in just minutes instead of making them look worse (as here).

[Dan Brown]

Hi Joe, nice bird, I like the eye contact. I agree that it looks a bit overexposed, Arts repost is much better. The perch coming out of the corner I do not like though.

Art, you are the first "art" teacher that I have studied under to advocate "breaking this rule" of the perch coming out of the corner of a frame! Interesting! I don't know if it's because I have been taught not to do this or what, but this perch coming out of this corner draws my eye away from the Merlin and right out the bottom of the frame.

Dan Brown

[Arthur Morris]

The perch coming out of the corner I do not like though. Art, you are the first "art" teacher that I have studied under to advocate "breaking this rule" of the perch coming out of the corner of a frame! Interesting! I don't know if it's because I have been taught not to do this or what, but this perch coming out of this corner draws my eye away from the Merlin and right out the bottom of the frame. Dan Brown

In more than 25 years of doing this I have never heard or seen printed the rule stating that "strong diagonals should not enter the frame from the corner." As I said above, I have been teaching the exact opposite for quite some time. And it works for me in this image and elsewhere. In addition, I have seen hundreds of great images where diagonal lines enter the frame precisely from a corner.

I would love to be directed to any source of the "rule" stating the opposite.

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Even if that is a rule, it only proves again that rules were meant to be broken!:D

Nice image and Artie 'fixed' what was wromg with the representation, though I would prefer it a little warmer.

[Arthur Morris]

I would prefer it a little warmer.

Problem with this image as posted is that if you go warmer then there are over-exposed pixels due to the over-SAT. Had the RAW been processed darker that would not be the case.

I am assuming that everyone knows the Alt-key trick when making a Levels ADJ; if not, it is back to Photoshop kindergarten...

[Linda Robbins]

Artie's repost really improved this nice image. What a beautiful bird. Artie's Digital Basics file will have you a PS expert in no time!

[Alfred Forns]

I like the re post a lot particularly the darker bg !! Sure sets it off.

Regarding the branch I would much rather not have it coming out of the corner, makes is look odd. Have had this told repeatedly in art training.