Barrow's Goldeneye (Female)

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Photographed at Shoreline Lake, Mountain View, CA. Thanks for looking! JR

Canon 40D, 400F5.6, 1/1250s, F8, ISO-400, EC 0, Eval Metering

[Blake Shadle]

Very nicely done, John. I really love the color, and you did a great job controlling the exposure. The head angle is right on, and the soft catchlight is noticable and adds to the image. I would remove the stand-alone reflection of the bird's crown closest to the bottom of the frame. I think that I might actually crop it out though, not clone it out. Take an equal amount off the left that you would from the bottom to remove the reflection. Great work.

[Daniel Cadieux]

First thing I noticed was that lonely reflection part near the bottom and agree that it should be cloned/cropped out. Beautiful hues of blue in the water, but there is a diagonal ripple in front of the forehead that kind of attracts my attention away from the goldeneye.

[Arthur Morris]

I love it as above. Esp. the perfect head angle. Boys and girls please note... :)

You might try selectively sharpening only the head.

Overall, very well done. later and love, artie

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thank you all for the kind feedback.

Blake: Yes, the single reflection at the bottom is distracting. Not sure how I didn't "see" that before. Well, that's why I am here - to learn how other people see images and what they pay attention to.

Daniel: I was very curious if someone would pick on that diagonal ripple. It is actually an artifact of a mediocre clone attempt. I thought that it was subtle and natural enough that I could get away with it. But apparently not. Lesson learned. Thanks.

Artie: well, what can I say but Big Thanks for your compliment! I've learned a lot already since this forum started and head angle, as well as virtual feet, is just one example. It definitely impacted my photography in that I pay much more attention to background and composition. Please keep the critique coming!

[Arthur Morris]

Hey John, You are welcome. When folks ask me, "What's the big secret of bird photography?" I tell them that the big secret is to pay attention to the little details... Each trick or principle that you learn will make your images a bit better and over time you will be famous (or much happier with your work). For those who are in a hurry pretty much all of the tricks are in ABP II.

Later and love, artie