Female Baltimore Oriole

[Roger Williams]

A new visitor to our house. A changeup from the more colorful male but a beauty in her own right.

Canon 40D ~ 500mm f/4 + 1.4ex ~ ISO 400 ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/400 ~ Gitzo + Mongoose

Slight crop with minimal cloning of a branch.

Comments invited.

[Randy Stout]

Roger:

A pretty lady, with good exposure, good detail in blacks without blowing the oranges, not an easy task.

Sharp. Perch scaled to bird well, pleasant background.

My only slight concern would be her head angle, which appears to be angling ever so slightly away.

Hope you have more chances with her. The females just arrived yesterday here in lower Michigan. Males have been here for about a week.

Randy

[Roger Williams]

Thanks for looking, Randy. She's been hanging around this morning, so I think more images are likely.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good looking lady, and good comments by Randy. I would add that I find the subject a bit tight in the frame - I'd prefer a looser comp. There is also an odd darker streak around the bill?

[Roger Williams]

Thanks, Daniel. I agree about the tightness. This was a full-frame image and I added some canvas at the top to provide more room. It could use more. I had not noticed the streak at the top of the bill (on the green background). I burned the bill to darken it a bit and apparently overshot my target. Good eye.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Roger, someone has rightly pointed out to me that this is in fact a male Baltimore Oriole. In it's drabness compared to usual flaming orange adult male individuals I too overlooked the fact that females do not have a black head and face. Just an FYI :-)