Anna's Hummingbird

[Aidan Briggs]

Caught this female hummer dining at some flowers in my backyard.

400D, 100-400f/4.5-5.6
1/640, f/5.6, ISO 200
About 70% of full frame

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the composition, action and light. The bird looks a bit soft on my monitor and I would remove the bright patches on the right side.

[Arthur Morris]

Axel is too smart. He stole my critique. I would add that I like the BKGR and the pose with the exposed neck feathers and the bill in the flower. The darker area surrounding the bird is a bit distracting.

[Glenn Bartley]

I like this nice natural image.....but I agree with Axel...

[Aidan Briggs]

Thanks for the comments Axel, Artie. The dark spot you mentioned was the result of the bush that served as the background being lit unevenly. Is there any way I could light that area without affecting the rest of the image? I have Photoshop Elements.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

All has been said with great comments from above.. Very striking composition and excellent detail. Thanks for sharing Aidan.

[Fabs Forns]

Aidan, you can try the Dodge tool to lighten the dark areas.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the comments Axel, Artie. The dark spot you mentioned was the result of the bush that served as the background being lit unevenly. Is there any way I could light that area without affecting the rest of the image? I have Photoshop Elements.

Hi Aidan, You are not the Aiden from "Sex in the City" are you? (Only kidding--that is the only time I had ever heard of the name.) Assuming that you meant "lighten" the image, I would make a QM and simply drag the curve (Control M for Curves on a layer) up bit .

You could also use QMs to cover the light areas on the right-hand frame edge.

[Greg Basco]

Aidan, really nice composition and good job to get the focus pretty much where you need it. I agree with the above comments. For future shots you might try adding a bit of fill-flash to help make the bird pop from the BG and to give a little sharpness boost.

Cheers,
Greg Basco