Chickadee setup

[Bryan Hix]

I have been playing around with doing some setups and here is one that I liked using a crabapple branch. I did a pano-type crop. Curious as to what I can do to improve this. Thanks.

Canon 1D Mk3
600mm f/4 w/25mm ext tube
ISO 400, 1/640th @f/8
Av Mode -2/3
LR2, curves adj, crop, sharpen in PSE7

[Bryan Hix]

I'm actually going to start with my own corrections I just noticed. I toned down the white on the back part of the cheek and trimmed the branch by the tail. I missed those the first time. ;)

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Bryan, Pretty nice! I like the pose as I think the head angle give us a nice profile. I also think the berries provide interests and add a nice splash of color. The simple background helps focus my attention on the subject. The whites look pretty good to me. The blacks are OK but, If this were mine, I might try and covert again to see if a little more detail in the black could pulled out.

Since this is a set-up I would remove some of the twigs to lessen the chance of intersecting the bird. As presented I would be tempted to remove the twig that is in the bird's shadow.

I hope you don't mind but may I suggest cropping a little from our right to place the bird closer to the edge of the frame. I would also try taking a little off the bottom to make it even more of a pano as the empty space doesn't add much to the image in my opinion. These of course are just suggestions and represent my personal preference. Your the artist so be sure to please yourself first.

If I am not mistaken, the light appears to be coming from our right. based on the shadow on the perch. Since this is a set-up is it possible to change the orientation so that your shadow is pointing at the perch? As I am sure your are aware this would change the lighting to frontal which I prefer to side lighting. However, this presentation looks OK to me as the bird and berries are fairly evenly eliminated.

Thanks for sharing.

[Bryan Hix]

Thanks Phil, very good points on all accounts. That's the kind of input I was hoping for. This is funny, but I was actually lined up great with this perch and then a squirrel came along and decided to inspect it and as it jump off to the ground, he spun it around a bit and changed the angle. I changed it back after the activity died down. Good call though. :)

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice Bryan, nice details, BG and perch. I would clone out the large twig to the left as I find it distracting (too close to the bird and too big), otherwise like everything here. well done

[Bryan Hix]

Thanks guys for the input. I will need to do a little trimming the next time I do a setup. ;)