This is my first ever post here at BPN. I have been enjoying this site for a while from a far and finally decided to sign up and begin to take part in the fun. I would consider myself a novice photographer at best but someone that is eager to get better so any critiques will always be greatly appreciated.
This is an image I got a couple weeks back on a very sunny day around midday. The lighting was somewhat harsh by this time of the day but the subject was quite willing to hang around so you take what you can get I suppose. I wish my DOF would have been a little better to get the feet sharper but as I said I am still learning. Thanks for looking!!
Matt
40D, 300mm + 1.4x converter, 1/500th, f 7.1, ISO 400, +1/3 comp
Classic wren pose with tail cocked. He is really holding on there.
Well exposed on the lighting conditions you had. The tail shadow is a little distracting, and might be helped a bit by shadow correction. Good self critique on the DOF.
From a comp. standpoint, I might be tempted to go more vertical, to try and get rid of some of the distracting elements to the left side of the frame. It would be a bit tight in front of the bird, but worth a try.
Alternately, you could try burning in the large bright reed on the left, and also the bright clump bottom left.
Perhaps one more pass of USM on the birds eye/head.
A big welcome to BPN. It is a great place to learn!
Welcome, Matt. All of us are learning here, a great place to do so. This is super. I think that Randy made some excellent points and his repost proves it. I like the classic pose, the graphic quality provided by the reeds, and the eye looks great! I don't care for that little piece of brown toward the lower right corner and if you're ok with doing so, I'd clone or quick mask it out as my eye drifts to it. Looking forward to more....
I did tone down the brown blob below, but agree that it could go!
Matt:
You will have to reach your own level of comfort about cloning or removing items in the image. Most of us will do some cloning, but it is a very personal decision.
Excellent first post Matt, glad you found the courage to participate! Randy brings some good points. Personally I prefer your original comp. The small brown object at bottom is quite small and would take very minimal cropping instead if you are still not comfortable with cloning stuff. With the eye and face in perfect focus (Randy's sharpening looks great) I am fine with the DOF here - too much more and you risk bringing some BG stuff more into evidence. I do feel that the image seems a little light - I'm sure toning down the midtones (via Levels) a bit would make a nice difference. Very nice overall feel to the image...way to go!
Marsh Wren
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