Superb Fairy Wren - male
1D Mark II, Canon 300 f2.8, x2 TC, 1/1250, f8, iso 320, fill flssh at -1 2/3, HH
Edit: the name is Superb Fairy Wren - got it wrong in the title.
An old image but one of my favourites as it wasn't a setup, just waited long enough flat on my belly till this guy got close. No effect on the BG.
Cropped from a horizontal - full frame vertical
Last edited by Ofer Levy; 12-26-2009 at 04:07 AM.
Ofer
I have never seen this bird so thanks a ton for posting
Lovey pose , raised tail looks so good with nice BG , details , sharpness & compo spot on
TFS
as above comment by harshad.
Great stuff Ofer, nice details, super pose ( really like the tail up) and nice angle giving that fine BG.. congrats..
I have never seen this bird either. Pretty interesting little guy. I like how the BG how fades into blue toward the top. The only two minor suggestions I have are to possibly tone down the left leg a bit, and it seems like there is a little detail loss in the black on the head, but that could be my monitor too.
I always love it whenever I see images of this awesome species!! Love the typical wren "tail up" pose. I agree with toning down of bird's right leg, and I would either darken the pupil, or very slightly lighten the iris...as is there is not much to differentiate them. The head angled a few degrees more towards us would have been great, I love the BG, and just enough ground to properly anchor the image...nice touch!
I like the pose and detail you captured here. The BG adds to this incredible image!
Nice alert pose and detail. I really like the low angle and the background.
one of the cutest birds in the world, and an excellent full frame shot.... added a little canvas to the left, tweaked in a small amount of sharpening, and messed with the catchlight to make it look more natural.. also, some local sharpening on the breast.
Killer shot as is bro, just a few things that I would suggest.
That's nice Ofer! ... I believe this may be the best image I've seen of this fabulous little bird.
The foreground body (head, chest, and belly) are nicely sharp without losing the softness of the bird, and colors look more natural to me than other photos of this species I've seen. I do wish for more detail in the black, and a bit more DOF to let that perky tail be sharper also, but still I think you've got a really lovely capture here.
Excellent bg too btw... a very smooth and complimentary gradient there.
very nice indeed,
Kenn
Thanks for the effort Ray. However, I am not crazy about any of the changes and don't really feel there is any improvement over the original post.
1. Adding the canvas to the left turns this to a more of a squarish crop which I always try to avoid. Since the bird is looking at you and not to the left of the frame I don't feel the added canvas is an improvement.
2. I feel the original is more than decently sharp and the added sharpening made it look oversharpened to my eyes.
3. Lastly, catchlight in the repost looks almost blurred and gives the effect of softness to the eye whereas in the original it is nicely defined.
When I repost an image I only do it when I feel that the repost is a major improvement over the original. I am pretty sure everyone will agree this is not the case with this image.
Cheers mate,
Ofer
understood bro, no problem, hands off from now on!Originally Posted by Ofer Levy
Ray my friend, please don't get me wrong! I am more than happy for you and/or anyone to repost my images and be as brutal as possible in your criticism. I often do that as I believe this is the best way for all of us to learn and improve. I won't always agree with the comments nor like the reposts but this is fine. I do appreciate your effort and thank you for the time and skill you put into it. You know I often rework on other's photos - sometimes people like what I do sometimes they don't - that is fair enough.
Thank you my friend! ;)
Ok bro, very cool. As we have said before, we all see things differently, and all we can do is express our opinions, and so be it! I am a big fan of yours, as are many people I know here is Canada. Re-editing one of your images took some nuts, and I am glad you didn't take it the wrong way.
So, imo, my re-edit is a slight improvement, and an expression of what I like in an image, but for sure, this is totally subjective., a hundred people would edit this shot a hundred different ways.
This is the fun of being a part of BPN., take care Ofer.
Ofer the BG is really nice with the subtle color gradation between light blue and light orange. Low angle and isolation from the BG is terrific and the pose of the bird is really classic of this species. Head turn and eye contact are Ok for me. I agree with you that the bird´s eye is not looking to the left side of the frame but the bill is pointing in that direction creating the feeling that the birds is looking to the left. The first thing that comes to my mind is adding just a bit of more room at the left. :)
That is lovely Ofer, tail makes it for me. I was just watching an old BBC series on birds and they had some footage of these guys.
Hi Ofer--Hey the original works perfect for me as far as things mentioned. The only thing I would point out is to have been at f11 or even a little more when taking the shot. I believe that would not have ruined your bg blur and due to the fact that these guys move in staccato fashion you should have had no problem with a sharp capture. The legs then and tail would have been a lot sharper. However that being said, in no way does it ruin the shot. As is puts the focus on his head, and those colors at his front end, so works fine too. But I feel a somewhat better shot would have been with more DOF. It's and awsome shot either way and one of the best I have seen of these guys. I love the color of the environment against his colors--very complimentary.
Curious what you have aginst a square format?--a lot of photographers--great photogrphers ---consider even it the ideal format.
Paul
Last edited by paul leverington; 12-27-2009 at 09:42 AM.
Perfect pose ,BG superb shot
Thanks for your comment Paul. I totally agree with you regarding the DOF. Since I took this HH I needed all the ss I could get but including the tail in the field could have been nicer for sure.
As to square crop. This is actually an interesting point. I have never even given it much thought but it just feels wrong when I see a square crop in most cases.
I guess there is a good reason why the standard way of printing photos all over the world is 2:3. TV and computer screens are also around this proportions of 2:3. I assume it has a lot to do with the human field of vision. I rarely see an image that works better for my taste as a square rather than a 2;3 or close to it.
Would loe to hear what you and other think about this.
Cheers,
Ofer ;)
Hi again,
I would be glad to see some more discussion of this aspect ratio question too. I very often choose 7x5 or 8x10 aspects myself, and have seen that this "square" look seems to not be favored by many here.
Kenn
To be honest I haven't given it a enough thought. So I am going to research it some and I think the whole concept of which aspect ratio and why would make a terrific subject for discussion here on the site. I'll look forward to your input. So far your throwing out some good logic. The very basis of your logic might validate using a square format if you think about it however---Square would "unsettle" the mind--and that might prove to be powerful to a particular image. I know that horizontal aspect is more restful and vertical is more dynamic--akin in analogy to sleeping versus standing. Hence landscapes look great as horizontals --most of the time verticals create tension. What does square do? We gotta talk more about this one.
Paul
Last edited by paul leverington; 12-27-2009 at 07:13 PM.
Nice one Ofer, not often you see a shot of this species down at its level
cheers
Rob
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